Animorphs: The Hybrid
by Cobalt Tatsuki
Summary: In this, the first of three stories, Ax and the Animorphs have a mystery on their hands. Someone is murdering Yeerks, killing innocent humanControllers along the way, and they have got to put a stop to it. R&R please, this is my first fic :
1. Preface

Animorphs:  
The Hybrid  
  
We can't tell you who we are. Or where we live. It's too risky, and we've got to be careful. Really careful.  
  
The thing you should know is that everyone is in really big trouble. Yeah. Even you.  
  
Ax and the Animorphs have a mystery on their hands. Someone is murdering Yeerks, killing innocent human-Controllers along the way, and they have got to put a stop to it. The problem is, they don't know who is doing the killing, why they're doing it, and most importantly, how the killer is able to literally pull a Yeerk out of a skull. They enlist Erek's help to work it out and go after a Yeerk sub-Visser to try and find out who is behind the killings.  
  
But something goes wrong. Ax's mission to stop the killing of Yeerks turns into a struggle for his own survival against the creature capable of overpowering a Yeerk's hold over a host brain. But who, or rather what is doing the killing? Perhaps more importantly, why and how? The answers to these questions are even more terrifying than the questions themselves, and the Animorphs' search leads them on a journey with an ending that will take them on their most perilous journey yet... 


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

**M**y name is Ax.

Or rather, that is what my human friends call me. My full name is Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill; I am an _aristh_ warrior-cadet, and younger brother to Prince Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul.

As any Andalite may or may not know, my brother is dead; slain at the hand of the Abomination, Visser Three; the monster enslaving the mind of War-Prince Alloran.

Elfangor died on a planet called Earth; a small planet in an unimportant region of space far from the Andalite homeworld, and also the site of one of the latest Yeerk invasions.

When our dome ship was destroyed by Visser Three's Blade ship over Earth, I was jettisoned to safety inside the dome while Elfangor's fighter crashed into the Earth's surface, just ahead of Visser Three's forces. Before Visser Three murdered him, Elfangor used Andalite technology, namely the _Escafil_ device, to give morphing abilities to five human youths, who he implored to fight the Yeerk invasion.

Then, Visser Three murdered my brother, using one of his most foul and vile extraterrestrial morphs.

Someday, I will kill Visser Three, or I will die trying.

For now though, my duty is to Prince Jake, and to fight for him and his people, most of whom do not even know the Yeerks exist. We are invisible warriors in an invisible war.

Most amusingly, Visser Three believes my five human friends to be Andalites like myself. It would be extremely amusing to see the expression on his face if he were to realise that the 'Andalite bandits' foiling him at every turn are only five human adolescents and an _aristh_. It would be funnier though to watch his head roll from his shoulders when the Council of Thirteen finds out that the invasion has been stalled by children.

Visser Three's host body is an Andalite, a great warrior by the name War-Prince Alloran-Semitur-Corrass. It is for this reason that he is our deadliest foe. For of all the millions of Yeerks in the galaxy, Visser Three alone has the power to morph. Not only can he morph a human disguise, the Abomination has many alien creatures he has acquired during his many conquests; most of which are far stronger than any Earth creature.

My human friends and I have succeeded in foiling Visser Three's plans from time to time, but we have not, and may never be able to halt the invasion, merely belay it until my people come to stop the Yeerks themselves.

We have even fought the leader of the Yeerk invasion, Visser One, and succeeded in ruining a project she had been running for the Yeerk invasion of Leera, and, more recently, we find that she is in the Anati system, overseeing a last attempt to regain the respect of the Yeerk leadership.

The humans are my people now, and Jake is my Prince. I will follow him until my people come and destroy the Yeerks, or until death free me from duty.

Jake may be my Prince, but all of the humans are my friends. Marco, Prince Jake's closest friend is small for humans of his age, but I have noticed he is particularly intelligent, and has, so he says, mastered the art of human humour. I myself do not fully understand it, and any Andalite who does not have knowledge of humans should accept that they probably never will. He has had to face the fact that his mother, previously thought to be dead, is the mastermind behind the invasion of Earth. She is another abomination whom I have already mentioned. Marco's mother is Visser One. Perhaps this humour is Marco's form of escapism.

Rachel is Prince Jake's cousin. She has yellow hair and bright blue eyes, and of all the 'Animorphs', she is the most fearless and a brave warrior.

Cassie is one of my friends as well. She has dark skin and dark eyes, and is a talented _estreen_. Cassie looks after animals, and by animals I mean animals other than humans. Humans consider themselves too advanced to be animals. And the Yeerks say _my_ race is arrogant.

Then I have my closest friend; my _shorm_, Tobias. Tobias was once a _nothlit_, but thanks to the intervention of the Ellimist, Tobias has regained his morphing powers, with one condition; he is still a red-tailed hawk, but with the ability to morph his old human body.

Tobias and I are kindred spirits. Neither of us has a home, neither of us have a family. We are alone. Except, of course, for one another. Because, you see, Elfangor was Tobias' father. That makes us family, and family is very important to Andalites.

I live in the forest with Tobias, though while he lives in the trees, I live in my scoop on the ground. We Andalites love trees, but we do not like to live in them.

Like Tobias, I have a human morph. However, unlike Tobias, my morph is no specific person. My human morph is a fusion of the DNA of my five human friends, which allows me to appear inconspicuous amongst humans, especially since I have refined the art of acting human so precisely.

In fact, it was in my human morph that this particular day began. I was with my friend Marco in a commercial centre that humans call 'the Mall' on my way to acquire my beloved cinnamon buns and meet with our fellow Animorphs, when I saw something with my human eyes that registered as somewhat peculiar.

Marco had gone to the human male's bathroom while I waited outside, and moments later, he called me in with him.

Marco told me he had seen something 'freaky' and that I had to see it. If I understand the usage of the word 'freaky', what I then saw certainly fit that description.

Lying on the floor of this 'bathroom', I saw something most unusual.

A human male and a Yeerk.

Both dead.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"**T**his is very strange indeed," I said. "Indeed. Deed. Duh."

"No kidding," Marco agreed. He was correct; I was most certainly not kidding. A dead Human Controller was a strange sight, especially one who appeared to have died for no reason.

"He's dead, Jim," I said.

Marco snorted to himself. "You've been watching Star Trek? Isn't that like a kids' show to you?"

"I enjoy the human perspective on space travel. And I find the optimistic view of your future to be quite intriguing. Ee-ging."

Then I noticed something underneath the Controller's corpse. There was blood, red human blood, seeping out from underneath it. The body was on its side, and the blood appeared to be coming from the head.

Marco quickly locked the door behind me, and I bent my wobbly human knees to look at the body.

"Don't get any blood on your hands, Ax!" Marco yelled at me. "I don't want to have to explain _that_ to one of the mall cops."

"I shall ensure no blood touches my hands," I replied, turning the Controller over so that I could look at the bleeding side of the head.

Behind me, Marco moved into one of the plastic stalls, and was promptly, violently sick. I too felt ill at ease, but my _aristh_ training would not allow me to lose control of my stomach, human or otherwise. Marco's mother is Visser One, or rather, she was until she was demoted and made a renegade. I had thought that of all my human friends, Marco was used to the horrors of our war. I was wrong.

As I turned the Controller over, one of its hands fell on the nearby Yeerk, which promptly began to seep green fluid with a sound I can describe as being a squelch.

I heard Marco throw up again.

The former-Controller was now on his other side, and I saw where the blood was coming from.

His ear.

"Marco!" I called. "Arco. Co."

The stall door opened and Marco emerged, looking slightly paler than he usually did.

"What?" he asked.

"I have discovered something odd."

Marco rolled his eyes in the human expression of disgust. "What? More unusual than a corpse in a mall bathroom with an alien slug lying next to it? Oh no, what could possibly be more odd that _that_?"

I recognised sarcasm now when I heard it. It was one of Marco's most frequently used forms of speech, after humour of course.

"I believe I have discovered what killed this Controller," I said grimly. "Someone has forcibly extracted the Yeerk from this human's skull with the Yeerk still attached to the host's brain. Bruh-ain."

Marco brown eyes appeared to widen at me. It still amazes me the number of expressions human faces can assume.

"How did someone do _that_?" he asked incredulously.

"I am unsure," I said, standing up and carefully avoiding the expanding pool of blood next to the Controller. "Look at the ear," I said to Marco.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"There are claw marks on the earlobe," I commented.

"From what?"

Before I could respond, there was a knock on the door to the bathroom, and a whining human voice called "who's in there, I need to go!"

I was unsure as to where the human needed to go, but before I could attempt to give directions, Marco stepped up close to the door and replied in his own version of an adult human's voice.

"Cleaning staff, mister," he said gruffly. "Use one of the other bathrooms."

The human outside made a very loud sighing sound, and apparently left.

I decided it was safe to continue. "The claw marks are not from human fingernails; the breaks in the skin are too clean," I said, trying my best to imitate the voice of one of the human law-enforcement officers I have seen many times on the television in my scoop.

"The marks are way too small to be from Hork-Bajir claws too," Marco said, quite rightfully.

"Or for Taxxon teeth," I added. "In fact, these marks are unlike anything I have seen before."

It was true. The marks that were all over the ear and down the same side of the face were crescent-shaped gashes of red, very thin and incredibly cleanly done. It looked almost like they had been done with surgical implements…

As if reading my mind, a skill I know humans do not possess, Marco spoke. "Could someone have taken the Yeerk out with a scalpel?"

"Not with weak human hands using it, no," I said. Marco seemed to take offence to my words. I was not insulting human hands, for they are much more powerful than my own, but I knew the force necessary to pull a Yeerk from a brain was too great for a human to exert.

"So, what then?" Marco asked. "Don't tell me that a little kitty tore the Yeerk out? Or that this guy's Yeerk though it would be funny to power drill itself?"

"I doubt the Yeerk would find that amusing. Oozing. Zing. But I believe the most important question is, not how the Yeerk and Controller were killed, but rather _who_ killed them," I said as calmly as I could, despite the now overpowering stench coming from the Yeerk.

Marco turned away from me and walked toward the door, when it suddenly opened and nearly hit him in face, taking the lock off the wall as it went past him.

"Erek!" Marco yelled, half in surprise and half in anger. "You nearly took my face off!"

The android we know as Erek King calmly walked into the bathroom with us, pushed the door back into the doorway, and folded the handle down in such a way that would make it very difficult to open from the outside, and from the inside for that matter.

"I'm sorry, I came as soon as I could," Erek said.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "Neither of us has reported this to anyone."

"The guy who came to the door was one of us, he smelled the Yeerk's body when he stood by the door, and sent for me. Just as well I was in the neighbourhood," Erek said with a smile, and then added, "I'd like to see AOL match Chee-net."

I raised one of my human eyebrows in a very good imitation of the Star Trek character 'Mister Spock' to show I was sceptical. I knew that Erek could have run from his home across town to us in less than five Earth-minutes. Everywhere was 'in the neighbourhood' to a Chee.

"Do _you_ know who killed this Controller?" Marco asked, looking first at Erek, at the body, then to Erek again.

Erek is a Chee, one of a race of Androids created by an extinct race called the Pemalites. The Chee are unbelievable fast, powerful and old, but are pacifists in the extreme, and only fight the Yeerks by providing us with information.

"It is a mystery," I said. "Who would murder a Controller in such a way?"

"Two Controllers," Erek corrected. "There's another one, I found her face-down in a dumpster behind McDonalds when I came out of the Yeerk pool. Her Yeerk was torn out through a small hole in her skull."

I looked to Marco and Erek.

"We must inform Prince Jake."


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"**W**hat's the problem?" Rachel asked, to no one in particular, as she leaned across the table in Cinnabon. "Okay, so you two found some dead Controller in a public toilet, and his Yeerk fell out. Big deal. Saves us the trouble."

I looked to Marco first, and then to Rachel, forming what I could only hope was a serious expression. Human mouths are so difficult to control, especially when presented with a tray of warm, aromatic cinnamon buns…

"Ax?" Marco said.

I formed a human smile and refocused my eyes on Rachel. "The Controller was not killed on purpose, Rachel. The Yeerk was pulled out and the Controller died as a side-affect. Ect. My tongue makes a clicking sound when I say that word. Affect. Aff-ect."

"That means someone wanted to murder the Yeerk, not the Controller?" Prince Jake asked, pushing the tray of cinnamon buns toward me.

"Exactly," I said, although with my mouth filled with delicious cinnamon bun, the sound came out more like "Eksacktluh."

I found that everyone except Erek looked away from me while I ate. Most humans seem to find my eating habits unusual. I cannot understand why. I place food in my mouth, I chew it and then I swallow it and the food travels to my human stomach. Exactly as humans do. Such strange people.

"And that's not forgetting the woman I found in the dumpster. She was killed in a different way, but the goal was the same. Kill the Yeerk, and the host died in the process," Erek said. "It seems as though someone is on a Yeerk killing spree."

"Not necessarily a bad thing," Tobias muttered, drinking a beverage known as a 'Coke'. He enjoys his human morph nearly as much as I do, although Tobias is now quite happy being a hawk.

"I have to agree," I said. "If someone is killing the Yeerks for us, we do not have to worry about them ourselves."

"No!" Cassie shouted, slamming her hands down on the table, and knocking one of my cinnamon buns onto the floor. I picked it up, dusted it off, and ate it while she spoke.

"It wouldn't be bad if someone was just killing Yeerks, but they're killing humans too, innocent human hosts who have done nothing wrong! We have to stop it."

Everyone fell silent for a moment. Humans prefer to be silent when digesting information, while I prefer to eat.

"Erek," Prince Jake said. "Can you find out who those Yeerks were? If they have anything in common or if they are important in some way?"

"I can," Erek said. "But it might take some time."

"We can be patient," Prince Jake said, smiling wryly.

"Okay then, I've got to go play coroner on two Yeerk corpses. Make sure you have as much fun as me," Erek said, laughing somewhat bitterly.

"You can do autopsies?" Cassie asked disbelievingly.

"I used to mummify Egyptian pharaohs, and I worked for the doctors who discovered the human veins carry blood, not air," Erek replied. "I can manage getting DNA out of a slug."

Erek left, and I finished eating my last cinnamon bun. I was still hungry.

"Prince Jake?" I asked. "May we purchase some foods containing the wonderful tastes of salt and greeeease?"

"Later, Ax," Prince Jake said.

Prince Jake no longer asks me to stop calling him 'Prince'. Perhaps he has finally accepted Andalite customs. Or maybe he was just tired.

"I must demorph soon," I said, suddenly noticing that in the midst of eating my tasty human snacks, I had only five minutes of morph time remaining.

"Me too," Tobias said.

We both stood up on our unstable human legs and walked out of the café leaving the others behind, and made our way to the public restrooms nearby. Thankfully, not the same one as before.

I walked in with Tobias behind me, and he locked the door.

It is paramount that every two hours I return to my Andalite body, or I will become a _nothlit_ as Tobias once was.

Morphing is a strange process; it is never the same each time you do it. No matter how many times you perform a morph, it varies every time.

This time, as I stood in the centre of the room and began to demorph, my human arms changed first. My five fingers split into several more, and the arms themselves became thinner and less powerful. Fur sprouted from the pores on my bald skin, and in moments my entire upper body was covered.

But that was all.

The rest of me was still human.

As I continued, my eye-stalks emerged from my brows and looked left and right, though since my brain was yet to change, I could see nothing from them.

Next, my back legs appeared. POP. POP. At last I was stable again, balanced on all fours as every sensible creature would be, and then my tail shot out from the end of my human spine, and along with it, my tail blade.

Now I was fully Andalite with blue fur, tail blade and eye stalks…with one exception; my face.

It was not Andalite.

My lips, covered with cinnamon, now began to disappear. I quickly licked them with my tongue before that too shrivelled away, and for an instant I tasted it, before I was finally, fully Andalite again.

( I do wish that we Andalites could taste as you do, Tobias, ) I said wistfully. ( If only we could know what the fruits on our homeworld tasted like. Your species, flawed as it is, has many advantages over mine. )

(Hey,) Tobias said from atop the nearest stall, now a red-tailed hawk again, (I'm not technically human anymore, so it's not really _my_ species, is it?)

(No, I suppose not,) I replied, before morphing back into human to return to the Mall. The whole process happened in reverse this time, until I was a human body, with human features, but with no mouth and an Andalite nose.

Any human happening upon this sight would have been quite disturbed, and so Tobias said, would have needed a shrink. Though I myself am confused as to how reducing the person's size would help them overcome hysteria. Obviously human psychology has very extreme ideas.

Tobias, now human again also, and I made our way back to the café, where we found that only Prince Jake and Cassie awaited us.

"Where has Rachel gone? Gohn. Gun?"

"Where else, Ax?" Cassie said. "The Gap. They have a mid-season sale on."

I know that human females, especially adolescents, seem to enjoy the act of purchasing artificial skin. However, Cassie does not, and she seems irritated when Rachel does so. Intriguing.

Seconds later, I heard a shrieking sound that indicated several humans were in distress.

Looking to the source of the sound, I saw Rachel running down one of the moving stairwells humans call 'escalators', carrying a plastic bag marked with 'The Gap'. I personally think 'A Bag' was more appropriate, but no one else agrees.

Rachel bolted toward us with the bag, which seemed to weigh a lot more than Rachel's usual load of artificial skin. Her skin was red, what humans call 'flushed', and her breaths came in ragged gasps.

"What is it, Rachel?" Marco asked. "Don't tell me you forgot your storecard and you had to rob the place?"

"There's a dead Controller in the changing room," Rachel said quietly. "She's got a hole in her head, above the eyes. I managed to grab the Yeerk before anyone saw it."

"Where is it?" Prince Jake asked.

Rachel put her bag on the table, and it made a noise familiar to my ears. A squelch.

"I believe I know where the Yeerk is," I said, making everyone laugh nervously. Most accidental. I was merely making a statement.

"This is insane!" Cassie said. "Someone's killed three Controllers now, and this one was right on the Yeerk's doorstep!"

I nodded. The Gap was one of the secret entrances to the Yeerk pool.

"Okay, we wait for Erek to tell us who the other two Yeerks were, and we need to give him this one too," Prince Jake said in what Marco calls his 'I am the fearless leader' voice. "Marco, you take it."

Marco said two words I gather are not acceptable to repeat, before sighing and accepting the bag from Rachel with a sound of disgust.

"When Erek calls, I want us ready to go as soon as possible. We have a murderer to catch."


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

**T**obias and I returned to the forest from the mall, after ingesting a most pleasant human food called a 'hamburger'. Contrary to what any sensible person would think, a hamburger does not contain ham; it contains a meat called 'beef', which is acquired from an entirely different Earth animal than ham. Most Andalites would be driven to distraction by the nuances and subtleties of human mouth-sounds, and how no one word means one thing, or means what one would expect.

I was watching the television in my scoop while Tobias was out hunting for his evening meal, when I heard noises in the undergrowth outside.

I raised my tail up, ready to strike in case it was a foe, and I stepped outside, and thrust my tail down towards ― Rachel. I stopped by tail just in time, and Rachel nearly collapsed because of her wobbly human legs.

"Whoa!" Rachel exclaimed, holding her hands upward in a human expression of surprise. "You nearly took my head off!"

(That was not my intention,) I assured her, lowering my tail to the ground. (I was not expecting company. It is usually only Tobias and myself here during the evening.)

Rachel smiled at me, and walked past me into the scoop. She looked around, apparently discouraged by the absence of anything to sit on, and stayed standing.

I noticed immediately that Rachel seemed distant and somehow distracted. It was something I saw rarely in her. You see, when humans are nervous or occupied, they shuffle their feet around or avoid direct eye contact. Rachel was doing both of these things.

(What can I do for you, Rachel?)

"Is Tobias here?"

(He is hunting,) I replied.

"Already? We had dinner at the mall. How can he be hungry again?"

(Tobias hunts frequently in the evening, or so he says. I believe he is simply enjoying the pleasure of flying.)

Rachel nodded and made a small smile with her lips. "Ax?" she asked.

(Yes?)

"You think we're doing the right thing, don't you? Looking for this Yeerk murderer, I mean?"

Had I been human, I would most likely have winced at that point. It was a particularly difficult question to answer.

(We cannot allow innocent humans to be killed,) I said with as much conviction as I could muster. (Even if it means evil Yeerks are allowed to survive.)

"But how do we know these people are innocent? For all we know, they're voluntary hosts. How do we know?" Rachel asked, her voice shaking.

I was surprised by the sheer emotion in Rachel's voice. It was most out of character. Usually Rachel is the first of the Animorphs to suggest violent action. Obviously she was at odds with herself over this. I did my best to comfort her.

(In this case,) I said, (the Controllers get, as you humans say, 'the benefit of the doubt'.)

Rachel seemed satisfied by my response. She sat down on the dirt floor of the scoop, folded her rickety human legs, and looked up at me. I remained standing, of course. We Andalites do not like to sit down.

"I'm worried about this, Ax," she said sombrely. "I know that we have to fight the Yeerks, and that sometimes people have to die. That's what war is about, and we _are_ at war. But everyone else seems to think I'm nuts."

(I do not believe you are small, crunchy fruit, Rachel,) I said, somewhat unsure as to why Rachel was called nuts by the others. (If you were an Andalite, you would be one of our most respected warriors. You are braver than I ever shall be. You are capable of acting in instinct, rather than orders. It is something I admire.) I turned the TV off. (I know people must die in war, Rachel. I have been trained my entire life to believe that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, but I am bound to Prince Jake's orders. If he says this murderer must be stopped, I am obligated to do as he wishes.)

"Jake isn't always right, Ax," Rachel said. "What do you think, Ax? Do you really think we should stop this killer? Or just wait until all the Yeerks are dead?"

I paused. What could I say? Of course I wanted every Yeerk to die, I wanted that more than anything, but I could not let innocent humans be killed simply because of my hatred. It is just as well that Prince Jake was my leader, rather than an Andalite. Any Andalite Prince, except perhaps Elfangor, would have allowed the slaughter to continue.

(I am bound to Prince Jake's orders,) I said weakly.

Rachel threw her hands up in the air, indicating that she was exasperated with me.

"Law of the jungle, Ax. Kill or be killed. If this thing is killing Yeerks, who are we to interfere? I still think they're getting what they deserve."

(Rachel, what if this creature were to kill Visser One? Marco would be most upset. Do you believe that Visser One's host would have 'got what was coming to her'?)

Rachel fell silent.

(It is not up to us to pass judgment over who lives and dies, Rachel. We have to do what we think is right, and let fate judge us for our actions.)

"Thanks, Ax," Rachel said. She got up and made her way just outside the scoop. The sun was nearly over the horizon. Darkness was descending on the forest.

"I'll call you when we hear anything from Erek," Rachel said, before disappearing into the trees.

(What was that all about?)

(Tobias?) I exclaimed in somewhat louder-than-usual thought speak.

(How long have you been here?)

(Long enough to know this is getting to the both of you,) Tobias replied, shuffling along a branch in a very natural bird motion. (You want to talk about it.)

(I am fine,) I lied. I was not fine. I was unused to people questioning the orders of their superiors. It is not the Andalite way. What I believe is irrelevant; it is what Prince Jake believes that is important. My beliefs are immaterial.

Aren't they?


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

**I**t was the morning of the next day when we assembled in Cassie's barn to plan our strategy. I travelled from the forest to the barn in my human morph, along with Tobias in his, and both of us demorphed upon arrival.

When we entered the barn, Prince Jake and Erek were conversing in mouth sounds. Marco was sitting on a bale of straw, and Rachel and Cassie were exchanging mouth sounds of their own.

"Ax-man!" Marco exclaimed. For some reason, my human friends call me this. It seems totally illogical. After all, they shortened my name to accommodate their mouth sounds, and now they have extended it again…

(Hello, Marco,) I replied, walking toward Prince Jake and Erek while Tobias perched himself in the rafters overhead.

Before I reached him, Prince Jake addressed everyone. "Erek's done his research for us," he said. Prince Jake inclined his head to Erek, indicating that it was his turn to speak.

"Both of the dead Yeerks were aides to Visser Three," Erek said, "and both of them had recently been assigned to some top-secret project being run out of the Yeerk pool."

I saw Erek's hologram-projected face take on a human expression of sadness. "And…another Yeerk has been killed."

"Who was it this time?" Marco asked. "Visser Three's PR guy?"

"The Yeerk's designation was Jotran 8472, and his host was a Chee named Dres. Both are dead."

Everyone fell silent.

"Wait a second," Rachel said, breaking the silence quite quickly.

"Before I ask exactly how someone killed a Chee, why was there a Yeerk inside one anyway? I thought you guys used holograms to pretend you had Yeerks instead of carrying them."

Erek swallowed hard. "When a new Chee joins The Sharing, a Yeerk is placed inside them and when they return, the Yeerk is removed and placed in stasis. From that point on, the Chee uses his hologram emitters to simulate the presence of the Yeerk."

(This Chee was a newcomer?) I asked.

"He was."

(Was he killed in the same way as the human-Controllers?)

"Yes," Erek said bitterly. "Dres' skull was cut open, and the Yeerk was torn out. However, the injuries to the skull did not kill the Chee. Whoever attacked him realised this, and stabbed him through the stomach. Dres died instantly."

"So, does whoever did this know that Dres was a Chee, and not a human?" Cassie asked nervously.

It was a valid question. If this killer knew that the Chee were posing as Controllers, we would have no choice but to kill the murderer, whoever it was.

"Not likely," Erek replied. "Our holograms are regulated by machinery on the Pemalite ship. The hologram is maintained even after a Chee is killed," he said sombrely, and then added with a wry smile, "Just as well, in this case."

"This is nuts!" Marco exclaimed. "How are we meant to take down someone who can dice up a Chee without breaking a sweat? We need Superman for this, not us!"

(I do not believe Superman would be a match for this creature, even _if_ he were real, and not a fictional animated character,) I said sharply. (What we need is some more information. I believe we must find out where this creature is likely to strike next, and lay a trap.)

"Oh yeah, sure," Marco sneered. Let's lay a trap for someone who can tear an android's head open." Marco raised his hand. "Who wants to vote on this being officially dubbed, 'most insane of all insane ideas in the history of insanity'?"

(You've got my vote,) Tobias muttered.

"Insane or not, this has to be done, guys. And done now." Prince Jake said. "This isn't about someone just killing Controllers. This thing has killed a Chee, and they can't defend themselves, so it's up to us to help them. We owe it to Erek."

Erek smiled, trying to hide his sorrow. "Dres survived through almost every war in recorded human history, you know. He was at the battle of Agincourt, the battle of Waterloo, and even at El Alamein, and now he's been killed because of a Yeerk being inside him for less than a day."

An idea hit me. (Erek,) I said. (What was Jotran 8472's duty for the Yeerks?)

"He wasn't anything important, really. He was a really low-ranking Yeerk, and Dres was his first host that wasn't a Gedd."

(What about the Yeerk Marco brought you?) Tobias asked. (What did it, um, I mean he…whatever…what was _that_ Yeerk's job?"

"Just a Yeerk infiltrator in a banking company, probably meant to divert money for The Sharing," Erek said.

"But the first two were connected," Rachel said. "They both worked for Visser Three. Maybe this is someone trying to make him look bad by killing his assistants."

"Visser One?" Prince Jake asked.

(Unlikely,) I said. (Visser One has a _gashad_ on her head. It is highly unlikely she would do anything to lower her standing with the Yeerks any further.)

"I have an idea," Cassie said, silencing the conversation. "Erek, are there any more of Visser Three's aides living near here?"

"Just one," Erek said. "A woman named Aleksandra Kaniak; her Yeerk is a scientist, Sub-Visser Thirteen, and the second highest ranking Yeerk on Earth after Visser Three himself."

"Is she going somewhere anytime soon?" Cassie continued.

Erek grinned. "She is scheduled to return to the Yeerk pool today for her Kandrona shower. Problem is, we aren't entirely sure where she's living at the moment." Erek sat down, and placed his head on a hand. "The Sub-Visser has three homes listed as her place of residence, but only one of them is the real one; the other two are bogus locations."

Prince Jake picked up on what Cassie was planning quite quickly. I respect Prince Jake. He is quite astute for a human.

"Okay, so we split into pairs and watch for this woman. If the killer is going after Visser Three's assistants, she should be next, and it would make sense to target her as she goes to the Yeerk pool. After all, she's probably kind of tired and worried if she's heard about the other two."

(I concur, Prince Jake,) I said respectfully.

Erek handed out some paper with human writing on it, three of them, to Prince Jake.

"Okay. Ax and Rachel, take this place," he said, placing a paper in my hands. I read it.

(Rachel?) I asked. (Where is this place?) I passed the note to Rachel, who read it herself.

"It's an apartment building about half a mile from the mall," Rachel said, passing the note back to me. "Expensive real estate," she said, and then added with a dry smile, "for a slug."

(The Yeerks enjoy living in luxury,) I said. (That is why Visser Three travels in so large a human automobile. It boosts their already overdeveloped sense of self-importance.)

"Sounds like someone else I know," Marco said to me. I hit him with the flat of my tail-blade, with just enough force to knock him off his feet onto the floor.

(I am confident, Marco. I am not egotistical,) I affirmed. (There is a fundamental difference. Do not compare me to a Yeerk.)

"I wasn't!" Marco argued. "Didn't realise I'd hit a raw nerve," he grumbled.

(None of my nerves are raw, Marco. You simply said something I would rather you do not say again.)

"Okay, take a day off, Marco," Prince Jake said forcefully. "Everyone knows where to go, yeah?"

Everyone agreed.

"Erek, is the Sub-Visser going to the Yeerk pool yet?" Prince Jake asked.

The Chee looked vaguely into mid-distance for a moment. I surmised he was conferring with his fellow androids. Erek replied.

"Her slot in the Yeerk pool's timetable is within the next four hours. She should be leaving her home within the next hour."

Prince Jake formed a broad smile.

"Okay troops, move out," he said.

"Yes sir," Marco said, performing a traditional human military salute, and then muttering, "you lunatic."


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

**W**ithin the next thirty earth-minutes, Rachel and I were approaching the address Erek had given us. Both of us had morphed birds of prey; I was my Northern Harrier, and Rachel a Bald Eagle.

Rachel's left leg carried a portable radio communication device the Chee had modified to be small enough for a bird to carry. Of course, in her bird morph, Rachel could not use the machine herself, but both of us could hear messages from the Chee watching everyone, so that we would know who had actually found the Sub-Visser.

(That's the building, Ax,) Rachel said, swooping down from the sky toward a vast, glass and concrete structure with many windows and balconies. I still marvel at how humans insist on building upwards rather than outwards. Why live in cramped boxes when you can live in fields and grasslands?

(Erek says we want the north-facing balcony on the fortieth floor,) Rachel said, as I came up alongside her. We landed on a smaller building opposite our target. (Which way are we facing?)

(We are looking at the east-facing wall,) I said. (And we have been in morph for twenty-two minutes.)

(Do you just say 'your minutes' when Marco is around?)

I laughed. (In fact, it occurs to me that I say 'your minutes', solely to irritate Marco.

(Ax,) Rachel laughed, (I love you.)

We took to the air again and swept onto another building that faced the north wall of the human apartment building. I scanned up from the bottom of the building to the fortieth level.

(There are several balconies on the fortieth level, Rachel,) I said, slightly worried. (How are we to know which one is our target?)

Rachel ruffled her feathers. (By elimination,) Rachel replied. I heard some dark undertones with the use of that word, elimination.

(There may be no need for that,) I said. (Observe the balcony, second in from the left side of the level.)

(Is that what I think it is?)

(Correct,) I agreed. (A Dracon beam-weapon, lying carelessly on the balcony, along with a copy of the New York Times, and a book called 'The Da Vinci Code'.)

Rachel laughed. (They make way too easy for us. Maybe the Yeerks don't take us seriously anymore. Should we remind them of what we can do?)

(We do not yet know if this is the Sub-Visser's place of residence,) I reminded Rachel. We need to see inside the elevated scoop to be sure.)

(Ax, it's called an apartment, not a scoop.)

(Oh,) I said with confusion. (It does bear striking resemblances to a scoop.)

(I think you should take a look without me, Ax) Rachel suggested. (You're smaller than me. I think she might notice if an eagle lands on her balcony.)

(I agree,) I said, swooping from our lookout toward the balcony. I flew to the side, out of sight, and perched myself on a frame surrounding a glass window, safely out of sight.

(My ears are registering no sounds, Rachel,) I reported. (Should I investigate further?)

(Yeah,) Rachel said. (Ax? If a male leader is called a Prince among Andalites, what do you call a female leader?)

(Andalites do not often have female soldiers,) I replied. (It is customary for Andalite females to take up positions in politics or science rather than the military.)

Rachel harrumphed, and I crept silently around so that my eyes could see inside the balcony. The screen door was ajar, but I could see no signs of current inhabitation.

Then something! The harrier's keen sense of smell, a thousand times more potent than my own, picked up a scent that no Andalite could possibly miss. A human. Or, more properly, a Controller.

Safely out of sight, I watched as a young, severe-looking human woman walked serenely out of an adjoining bathroom into the main chamber. She moved with elegance and grace that did not seem appropriate for a human, let alone a human-Controller; a subordinate of Visser Three.

The Controller was wearing tight-fitting, brown pants made of material called leather, with a similarly styled jerkin on the upper half of her body, covering what I gather is near to the bare minimum of her body, cut off at the midriff. The design was what humans would consider provocative, though I myself mind no humans, Controller or otherwise, physically attractive at all. It was a classic example of a Yeerk's maniacal ego gone wild. This Yeerk knew that its human host was attractive, and it exaggerated it. Such behaviour is not uncommon.

(Ax?)

It was Rachel. I responded. (I have the Controller in my sights,) I said. (It would be prudent for you to demorph and inform the others that we have found Sub-Visser Thirteen.)

(Oh sure, no problem,) Rachel shot back. (Demorph. On the thirtieth floor of an apartment building.)

(I can contact the Chee is you would prefer.)

(I'll do it,) Rachel growled.

I turned my bird head about and watched as Rachel's bald eagle slowly melted away and became her human body, clad in her morphing outfit.

(Maybe she's born with it. Maybe it's _Maybelline_,) I said.

Rachel's face took on an offended look. I saw her raise an eyebrow at me.

(I have just noticed the remarkable similarity that you bear to the human women I have seen on _The Break_. They often appear, walk around and smile, and then I hear those words.)

"Are you hitting on me, Ax?" Rachel asked with a smile.

(No, Rachel. We are separated by a vertical drop of over sixty of your metres. It is impossible for me to hit you.)

Rachel rolled her eyes and picked up the small radio device from by her feet. She relayed our information to the Chee.

I turned around again, just as Sub-Visser Thirteen walked out onto her balcony. She picked up the Dracon weapon, and the books from the floor, and looked up ― at me.

Her face contorted in confusion as she locked eyes with a Northern Harrier; a bird not normally seen in urban areas. Would she see through my guise?

"How peculiar," she said, speaking with an accent I had never heard before. It was as though she too were unused to human mouth-sounds, because when she spoke the letter 'r', it was as though she were purring, as does an Earth cat.

Without so much as another look in my direction, Sub-Visser Thirteen whirled about and walked back in to her chambers, and her telephone began to ring, signalling that someone was trying to contact her. She picked up the receiver.

"Da?" she said.

(Rachel, what does 'da' mean?)

(The host is Russian, Ax) Rachel replied. (Da is Russian for yes.)

"Chapman?" she shrieked. "Why are _you_ calling me? I have no time for pathetic, low-grade morons like you!"

Rachel shuffled up next to me, again in her golden eagle morph, and looked intently at me.

(She must know him,) Rachel said wryly. The Sub-Visser continued.

"I don't care what Visser Three said!" she said, spitting out the words as though they defiled her mouth. "I am under orders from the Council of Thirteen! In this instance, my authority exceeds his!"

(If nothing else, she is brave,) I commented.

(Or stupid,) Rachel added. (The others are heading to meet the Chee at the Mall. Erek wants us to follow her to the Yeerk pool, and see if she gets attacked. You'd better demorph and remorph. I don't want us to have to stop in case we lose her.)

"Chapman," the Sub-Visser snarled. "If you _ever_ call me with so ridiculous a request again, I will personally feed you to the Taxxons. Is that clear? Of course I don't know where the Visser is! I don't care if he is late for his Kandrona feeding. It's his own fault for being so arrogant if he's lying face down in that feeding ground of his on his way to the pearly gates. Bah! Pathetic Andalite bodies! Absorbing nutrients through their feet ― how absurd."

I snarled. This Yeerk was even worse than most.

"I will be at the pool momentarily," the Russian Yeerk said imperiously. "If Visser Three is not back within the hour, I will assume command."

She slammed the receiver down, placed the Dracon beam into a handbag (a most deceiving name; handbags are in fact worn over the shoulder), and walked out of the elevated scoop's door, locking it behind her.

(Time to fly, Ax,) Rachel said, turning around and taking to the air. I followed. (We can watch her from up here. Hurry up and demorph!)

I flew to the roof, and slowly shifted out of my bird morph. My feathers receded into short, blue Andalite fur, and my wings themselves changed into my familiar arms, whilst my small bird feet promptly burst forward into powerful Andalite legs with strong-as-steel hooves. Out of my chest burst my front legs and I fell silently onto them. Last came my tail. I watched as Rachel followed the Sub-Visser's path, looking through the windows.

(She's in the elevator,) Rachel said imperatively. (Hurry it up, Ax!)

(Have a break, have a _Kit-Kat_,) I replied.

Soon I was in bird morph again, flying in small circles alongside Rachel. With my incredibly acute vision, I saw, even from our great height, as the Sub-Visser swaggered out of the door to the large building, and began to walk in the direction of the Mall. To the Yeerk pool.

(Time to follow,) Rachel said. We did. We followed the minimally dressed Controller swaggering down the street toward the Mall; totally oblivious to the fact she was being followed.

(I for one wouldn't mind if she got sliced and diced,) Rachel said sharply. (Anyone who swings their behind like that deserves that, at the very least.)

I nodded in silent agreement, and watched as the Sub-Visser turned sharply into an alleyway. Our vision became obscured by a sudden swarm of humans on the ground.

(We can't lose her!) Rachel shouted in thought-speak. I followed her as she shot forward and turned into the alleyway.

I was soon hit by a grim realization. (The Sub-Visser is not down there.)

Rachel swooped down into the alley and landed silently atop an overflowing dumpster. She scanned the alley from the entrance, to the wall at its end, as did I.

(Where did she go?) Rachel yelled.

I followed Rachel to the ground, and landed on the ground, beside and beneath her. I demorphed, since it was dark enough for any humans walking down the adjoining street to miss me, even if they happened to glance my way, which humans invariably do.

I looked up and down the alley again. I stared at the end wall with all four eyes…something was not right.

"TSEEER!"

My four eyes snapped around as Rachel's morph screamed out at me, and she immediately fell into a heap. There was a small metal dart in her side.

Then ― a hiss of escaping air, and something hit me in the neck. Immediately, my vision began to blur.

She was standing in front of me. Sub-Visser Thirteen, holding not a Dracon beam, but a simple human projectile weapon, smiling broadly.

With my vision and hearing swirling into nothing, I heard a sinister laugh that only a Controller could muster. How had she sneaked up on me?

"Too bad, Andalites," she cackled. "You are mine."


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

**L**ight. Incredibly bright light, burning down on me from overhead. I was lying on my side, with my legs and arms in bracers and my head forcibly pointed upwards. My tail blade was held at my throat by another metal bracer.

A disembodied voice called to me. "I must say, Visser Three is obviously more incompetent than even I have given him credit for," Sub-Visser Thirteen hissed from somewhere nearby. "If you are the Andalites he has had so much trouble with, I am thoroughly unimpressed. And don't bother trying to morph. You will find that to be impossible."

I focused on my harrier again. I tried to bring its DNA out from within me and to become the harrier. Nothing happened.

I tried again with my human morph, and even a flea. Nothing, not even a single cell changed.

"I have a device here than inhibits the energy you need to morph," the Sub-Visser said in a singsong voice of triumph. "Thank you for being such willing test subjects. Both of you"

Rachel! Did this Yeerk know that Rachel was human? I hoped not.

(I demand to know where my comrade is!) I snarled.

Sub-Visser Thirteen came into view. She stood over a metre above me, and brought her face down to within millimetres of my own, and glared at me. "You are hardly in a position to make demands, Andalite!" she jeered.

(Answer me, or I will tell you nothing!) I growled. My tail twitched beneath the restraint.

The Sub-Visser came even closer to me. "Actually, by the time I'm finished with you, you'll be telling me _everything_ you know."

I could actually smell the human-Controller; she was so close to me. Humans unfortunately, do not have the most pleasant aroma.

(I have been trained to resist torture,) I said sternly, keeping my four eyes locked on the two of the Yeerk. (You will _not_ break me.)

The Sub-Visser lifted her head up and backed away with an indignant snort. "You are right," she said brusquely. "Andalite _arisths_ are trained to resist torture. That much I have learned from Visser Three." The Sub-Visser went out of sight for a moment. I sighed. Perhaps she had accepted the futility of her actions.

(Ax!) Rachel cried in thought-speak.

(Rachel!) I replied. She was still in morph, or else thought-speak communication would be impossible. (Where are you?)

(I'm right in front of you,) Rachel replied weakly.

I swivelled my stalk-eyes around a full-circle, and there she was.

(I can see you, Rachel.) A bald eagle was trapped inside what appeared to be a glass box, in Sub-Visser Thirteen's hands. Though the box seemed to be glass, I knew it was transparisteel, or Ramonite…something far too tough for animals to break.

"I agree, Andalite," Sub-Visser Thirteen crooned. "I cannot break _you_. But I'd wager that Andalite females do not have as great a resistance to torture as males."

I laughed as Rachel told the Sub-Visser what to do with herself in a traditional, archaic Earth fashion.

"Such language, from a noble Andalite warrior," the Sub-Visser sneered. "I'm almost shocked. Perhaps so much time on this planet has worn away at your smugness just a little too much."

(Release Imzadi-Ziyal-Corrall at once, Yeerk!) I commanded. (I will not barter with you. Either you release her, or you will be truly made to suffer.)

The Yeerk eyed me with incredulity. "And lose my only bargaining chip? I think not."

Rachel called to me. (Imzadi?) she asked dubiously.

(The name of one of my classmates at the Academy,) I replied. (She was much like you.)

Sub-Visser Thirteen placed Rachel's box down on a computer console. "I have a proposal for you, Andalites," she said.

(I will have no dealings with you,) I snapped. (I have no intention of repeating Seerow's mistakes.)

"Ah yes, Seerow," Sub-Visser Thirteen said wistfully. "I knew him. He was kind and generous. Open-minded too. A trait the rest of your kind could do with acquiring."

The Yeerk's attempt at humour, what humans call a pun, was less than amusing.

(State your demands,) I hissed. Dealing with a Yeerk was a terrible idea, I knew, but I approximated that Rachel had less than fifteen minutes of morph-time left. I had to act.

"Much better," the Yeerk snickered. "I have something you want, Andalite." The Sub-Visser glanced casually at Rachel. "And I don't just mean your fellow terrorist here." She smiled terribly and glared at me. "I can give you Visser Three."

My hearts began to race. Was this Yeerk sincere? I had no way of knowing…but her proposal was too tempting to ignore.

(Go on,) I said sternly.

Sub-Visser Thirteen's smile widened. "Your piety is matched only by your corruptibility, Andalite," she laughed bitterly. "Very well, my proposal is thus. I will slip you in through the Yeerk pool's security grid, and you will kill Visser Three for me."

My hearts raced ever faster. (Is that it?)

"Not quite. As you may have guessed, Visser Three's death will benefit me enormously. It is of the utmost importance that no one know I am behind this." The Sub-Visser levelled a Dracon beam at Rachel. "Therefore, to ensure your compliance, I will keep your friend here until you bring me Visser Three's tail blade as proof of his death."

I shuddered in my restraints. To remove a dead Andalite's shorm was to desecrate his body in the most terrible way imaginable. Perhaps the Sub-Visser did not know this. But then again, perhaps she did, and she was testing me.

Either way, I could not leave Rachel in her hands. If the Sub-Visser discovered that Rachel was human, she may decide to double-cross us and hand us over to Visser Three for execution…or worse, she could simply have Rachel infested.

(I will make sure Visser Three dies,) I said grimly. (I accept your proposal, with one condition.)

"Name it," the Yeerk snapped.

(You will keep me, instead of Imzadi. I am of a higher rank, I am therefore a more valuable hostage.)

Sure enough, like a Skrit-Na who had just been given the best trade deal of his life, the Sub-Visser immediately said yes.

Suddenly, the restraints around my arms, legs, neck and tail tightened.

"Just a precaution," the Sub-Visser said. "Your friend here will take me to your Prince, and we shall return when the Visser has breathed his last.

(That was not part of the agreement!) I shouted.

"Consider the terms of the agreement altered," Sub-Visser Thirteen laughed.

She opened the box with Rachel inside it, but kept the Dracon beam aimed squarely at me.

Rachel fluttered out slowly. She made no aggressive moves. I was thankful.

"There's a good Andalite," the Yeerk mocked. "One wrong move and…" she paused. "What's your name?" she asked me.

(Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill,) I hissed.

"One wrong move, and Aximili will find himself with the biggest headache of his life."

Rachel hissed, but remained calm.

(I'll tear her damned eyes out!) Rachel shrieked to me. (I'll make her really, REALLY regret this!)

I calmed myself to reply. Despite my precarious situation, Rachel and I still had a mission to complete.

(Rachel, you must stay with her, but stall for time. You only have ten minutes of morph time left, but you must not lose her. We need Sub-Visser Thirteen alive as bait for this killer.)

Rachel growled, and nodded at me.

The Sub-Visser glanced down at her. "I do hope you two aren't planning anything. After all, we have a Visser to kill."

I expected a snappy reply from Rachel. Both of them were out of my sight…no sound.

What was wrong?

(Ax!) Rachel screamed.

Suddenly, the table I was restrained onto tilted itself so that I was perpendicular to the floor.

"Is that right, Sub-Visser?"

It was Visser Three, and yet at the same time, not Visser Three.

The human Sub-Visser whirled around half a full turn, and instantly a hand clamped itself around her throat, and lifted her half a metre from the floor into the air.

I could hardly believe what I was seeing. Standing a scant few metres from me, holding up a fully grown human will little apparent effort, was…what I can only describe as a monster.

The body itself was Andalite in shape, with four hoofed legs, a slender torso with two arms and a tail, but the rest of it was completely alien to me. The head itself had a long, pronounced snout with a set of shimmering white teeth bared in a terrifying grin, and two deep red eyes which moved from the Sub-Visser to myself, and back again. The monster's ears were not tipped with Andalite points, but were curved and human-like.

The arms, which on an Andalite like myself would be thin and slender, were thick and rippling with powerful muscles, and each of the many fingers were tipped with sharp, obsidian claws that shone in the low light of the Sub-Visser's laboratory, and the blue Andalite fur was tinged by green, scaly skin underneath, with patches of pink scattered randomly about.

The tail blade was a shape not unlike Visser Three's blade ship, with the crescent-shape of an Andalite _shorm_ replaced by a semicircular axe.

As the scarlet eyes burned onto me, I was certain of one thing. Whatever terrible monster held Sub-Visser Thirteen's life in its hands, was not Visser Three.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"**P**lease, Visser!" the Sub-Visser begged weakly. She had recognised the voice as well. "Have mercy upon me! Visser Three, please ―"

"NO!" Visser Three howled. "I am _not_ Visser Three, you pathetic worm! I am War-Prince Alloran-Semitur-Corrass!"

Impossible! Alloran was Visser Three's host; a broken Andalite who had once begged us for death. I refused to believe that this broken, disgraced warrior had overpowered a Yeerk as strong as Visser Three. And what had happened to his body…? It was most certainly not Andalite…at least not on the surface.

"You will die, Yeerk!" Visser Three/Alloran screamed. "All of you will _DIE_!" This voice was new to me, though it was had the trademark tones of Visser Three beneath it. Even in his human morph, there was something uncannily evil about Visser Three that was evident to any of us. I heard it now, even in this monster's voice.

"Please, noble Andalite," Sub-Visser Thirteen whimpered. "I declare my allegiance to you, War-Prince Alloran. Just, don't kill me…"

Alloran cocked his head to one side as though some mad animal that had been given a command it did not quite understand, and dropped the Sub-Visser to the floor.

She took several deep, drawn-out breaths, refilling her hosts' lungs with life-giving oxygen, before standing up and staring upward into the crimson eyes of War-Prince Alloran, or rather, the being who had once been Alloran. What I saw was neither Andalite nor Yeerk. It was a monster.

"You won't be sorry about this, Visser ― I mean, War-Prince," the Sub-Visser simpered, rubbing her throat emphatically.

"Yes," Alloran drawled. "Well if I am, you will be _sorrier_."

(She will betray you, War-Prince Alloran,) I said in public thought speak. I wanted the human Controller to hear me. I would make her pay for this indignation. (She will use you to get what she wants, and then she will destroy you.)

(SILENCE!)

I was shocked. The thought speak had come from Sub-Visser Thirteen!

(Don't you see a strategic opening when you see one, Andalite?) she said. (If we work together, we can destroy Visser Three and this crazed Andalite host, whatever it is. Are both not common adversaries?)

Before I could ask 'how', the Sub-Visser continued.

(I have developed a means of allow humans to use as well as receive thought-speak. It is still experimental, though I believe the implant to have great potential.)

Alloran watched both of us interestedly, but simply smiled.

(She's trying to trick us, Ax!) Rachel called. (We can't trust her!)

(I am prepared to take that risk, Rachel,) I said dourly. (you must go and tell Prince Jake to come here with the others.)

Rachel said nothing. She looked at me with eyes that betrayed her sorrow at leaving me behind. (I will be back,) Rachel said resolutely. And with that, Rachel fluttered through a ventilation shaft, and was gone.

(I am counting on it,) I said lightly to myself. (What is your plan?) I asked the Sub-Visser warily.

The Sub-Visser shot a wink at me. (Follow my lead, Andalite. I know Visser Three. I can manipulate him quite well.)

(This is not Visser Three, ) I pointed out. (It is a crazed Andalite host, as you put it. And that makes me better suited to dealing with him.)

(Agreed,) the Sub-Visser said bitterly.

(War-Prince Alloran, I am _aristh _Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthil, brother of Prince Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul. I await your orders,) I said. (I am willing to follow you to death or victory, whichever release me first.)

(I do hope you _are_ acting,) Sub-Visser Thirteen said wryly. (I am convinced, though I'm not sure he is.)

I had worked with a Yeerk before to destroy Visser Three, but that time I had failed. It was that day that I first glimpsed upon the broken Alloran; the Alloran who had pleaded for death. I would not fail this time. The Sub-Visser was expendable.

(War Prince Alloran, I am prepared to follow you,) I repeated.

Alloran glared at me, as if sizing me up to see if I was worthy of serving him.

"You may serve me," he said haughtily. "But be warned. I do not take kindly to treachery." Alloran looked menacingly at Sub-Visser Thirteen. "Did you know that Yeerks scream when you pull them from a brain?" he asked her.

The Sub-Visser's face turned a pallid colour. She trembled. "You are a monster, you Andalite murderer!" she said fearfully.

"NO!" Alloran snarled, smashing a wall with one of his hands. "I'm not the monster here, you are!" His tail swayed from side to side. Alloran wanted to kill her.

(War-Prince, you have killed the Yeerks _and_ their Controllers?) I asked reproachfully. (Killing non-combatants is in direct violation of the Prime War Directive, surely you ―)

"SILENCE!" Alloran barked furiously. "How dare you, a mere _aristh_, preach to _ME_?"

There was something wrong with this creature. It was no Andalite. I had read reports on War-Prince Alloran, and this was not he. He was revered as a brutal, ruthless warrior, but a honourable one. Any Andalite would show remorse for such a brutal, unnecessary killing.

No Andalite, certainly not a War-Prince, would murder innocent humans. Even is this creature's body was not Andalite, if its mind were, it would not be capable of such an act. Never.

"You are a brutal murderer, Alloran-Semitur-Corrass," Sub-Visser Thirteen said bravely, holding a Dracon beam in one hand, and with the other smugly on her hip. "I had thought that the murders were Visser Three's handiwork, clearing out his unwanted associates. But to find out that it is you; an experiment gone wrong," the Sub-Visser burst into laughter.

Alloran screamed madly and ran at the Sub-Visser.

TSEEW!

A Dracon beam burst out from Sub-Visser Thirteen's weapon and struck Alloran in the side. He stumbled forward, but raised his tail and smacked the weapon from the Sub-Visser's hands so hard that she fell to the floor with a broken wrist. Alloran stepped over to her.

"I _was_ planning on letting you live," Alloran snarled. "But now I ― argh!" Alloran's knees buckled and he fell down. His eyes bulged and glowed red behind the iris. I knew what I was seeing. Visser Three was fighting him. Were it not for my fear, I would have laughed at the irony of it all.

Whatever creature was now host to Visser Three, it was apparent to me that it was far superior to any host that any Yeerk had ever taken before. Generally speaking, the higher ranking the Yeerk, the stronger its ability to control a host body. If Visser Three could not exercise complete control over this monster, its power had to be incredible.

"Kill him!" Sub-Visser Thirteen screamed. "Kill Visser Three!"

The Sub-Visser's Dracon beam lay only a metre or so from me, and Visser Three was defenceless. He was so involved in trying to regain control of the host that he was completely open to attack.

I picked up the Dracon weapon from the dust and shrapnel-covered floor of Sub-Visser Thirteen's laboratory, and I levelled it at Visser Three.

Then, all four of the creature's eyes focused on me, and all four of them betrayed the same emotion.

Fear.

Visser Three was afraid. I looked at him deeply. He was more than afraid. The Abomination was terrified.

"Kill him, you moron!" Sub-Visser Thirteen screeched. "Kill him NOW!"

(How does it feel, Visser Three?) I asked. (How does it feel to know that your life is in my hands?)

The creature struggled to move at me. Two thick muscular arms tried to reach out, but then withdrew. Alloran was fighting Visser Three. Despite his apparent madness, Alloran-Semitur-Corrass still wanted to die. I admired his resolution.

"Enough of the amateur dramatics, you Andalite idiot!" the Sub-Visser yelled at me.

I ignored her, and squeezed the Dracon beam weapon up to its highest setting. If I fired it now at Visser Three, there would be nothing left of him other than a bad smell in the air.

Then to my surprise, Visser Three began to laugh. He laughed loudly and heartily. Perhaps he had finally gone truly mad.

(What exactly do you find so funny, Abomination?) I snarled, aiming the weapon at his head. My arms trembled with rage. How dare he mock me?

"You are a fool," Visser Three cackled.

(And _you_ are about to die,) I countered. (Perhaps you should remember who is holding the gun.)

Visser Three looked at me incredulously and grimaced. "_I_ am about to die?"

(Yes, Abomination,) I said forebodingly. (Yes you are.)

"If I am about to die," Visser Three said, restraining laughter, "then why do you tremble so?"

I stared at Visser Three for a moment in disbelief. What was he talking about?

"ENOUGH!" Sub-Visser Thirteen cried. She hit me over the back of the head with a piece of metal and grabbed the Dracon beam from my hands.

I stumbled and fell onto the floor as the Sub-Visser started past me and fired on Visser Three.

The Dracon beam lanced out with its trademark whine toward Visser Three and hit…nothing.

Visser Three was gone.

"WHAT?" the Sub-Visser exclaimed in disbelief. "Where did he go? He was right there! I had him!"

"Yes, you _had_ me," Visser Three laughed.

The Sub-Visser whirled around and Visser Three smacked her across the face with the flat of his tail, sending the human flying across the lab into a concrete wall.

Sub-Visser Thirteen slumped over. Unconscious.

Visser Three advanced on me. I couldn't move. The Sub-Visser's attack had nearly knocked me out.

"Now, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthil," Visser Three crooned. "Who is about to die?"

There was a terrible silence, and then, Visser Three raised his tail.

(Still you!) came a furious voice. It was Rachel!

My hearts quickened. Standing framed in the doorway to the Sub-Visser's lab, was a tiger, a wolf, a grizzly bear, a gorilla, a Hork-Bajir, and Erek King.

"More Andalites!" Visser Three roared exultantly. "Good," he said, somewhat more calmly. "And I thought this was going to boring."


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Prince Jake's tiger morph bolted forward at Visser Three with his claws fully extended, only to be swatted aside by a lightning-quick attack by the Visser's tail. 

Rachel roared furiously and ran at Visser Three. She grabbed the Visser by his front two legs and took him to the ground whilst Cassie jumped onto his face, and clawed at his eyes.

Visser Three screamed in pain, and with one muscular arm, he picked Rachel up by her hind legs, and threw her at Marco, knocking both of them down.

The Visser moved against Cassie, but she leapt off him before he could reach her. Then, in a flash of blades and scaly reptilian skin, Tobias' Hork-Bajir morph set upon him.

With an awesomely fast flick of his elbow, Tobias severed one of Visser Three's stalk eyes, and then stabbed the Visser through the chest.

I had never seen such a brutal assault against anyone, Yeerk or otherwise, but through it all, Visser Three was still fighting.

Visser Three punched Tobias in the face, nearly breaking the Hork-Bajir's snout, and just as he prepared to thrust downward with his tail blade, Prince Jake was upon him.

Tiger claws met the razor-sharp tips of Visser Three's fingers, and Prince Jake slashed the Visser across his face, drawing curiously coloured, yellow blood.

I had my balance again, and took the chance to move against Visser Three myself.

This creature, which made the Visser's epithet of 'Abomination' all too appropriate, despite standing over three-point-five metres in vertical height, was now within striking distance of my tail.

I thrust forward at Visser Three's left flank, but found myself foiled when the Visser stepped swiftly to the side. He threw Prince Jake at me with one hand, and I felt the breath escape my lungs as two hundred kilograms of feline smashed into me.

The battle was perfectly even.

None of us could break Visser Three's defences, and each time we seemed to press the advantage, he would counter us.

There was one person who could stop the Visser, but he would not.

I saw Erek King knelt down next to Sub-Visser Thirteen. He checked her pulse, and seeming satisfied, got to his feet and moved stealthily to one of the Sub-Visser's computers.

Tobias roared in the harsh, guttural Hork-Bajir tongue, and ran at Visser Three with Rachel at his side. Tobias slashed at Visser Three with elbow blades as Rachel pummelled him with grizzly bear fists.

Visser Three parried Tobias with his tail, and delivered a devastating kick to Rachel's gut with one of her hind legs, and then hit Tobias with a _torf_, slapping him harshly with the flat of his tail blade.

Tobias stumbled backward, and fell over. Visser Three laughed, and raised his tail up in what I knew to be the _Mek'leth_, or death strike. In seconds, Visser Three's fifty centimetre wide tail blade would fall, and sever Tobias' spinal column at the uppermost vertebra, killing him instantly.

I could not let that happen.

I quickly grabbed the Sub-Visser's Dracon beam from the ravaged floor of the laboratory, and fired it at Visser Three's face. He cried out in pain, and Tobias rolled out of the way as the tail blade dove into the concrete where he had been a second before.

Suddenly, the lighting in the laboratory went out, and was replaced by powerful scarlet light, and blaring alert klaxons.

"Unauthorised bio-signature detected in laboratory alpha-one," said the plaintive Yeerk computer. "Gleet bio filters beginning purge."

Erek King looked to me from a computer, and gave me what humans call a 'thumbs-up'; a sign of success or congratulation.

"You shan't defeat me this easily!" Visser Three roared. With one hand over his scarred and mutilated face, and the other in front of him, the Visser ran for the door very quickly.

Erek was faster.

The Chee braced himself in the doorway to block the Visser's escape. In seconds, the biofilters would vaporise Visser Three. I wondered how it would look…

"Foolish human!" the Visser screamed. "Get out of my way! The biofilters are programmed to kill everyone not a Controller!"

"No, Visser Three," Erek said sternly. "They're just programmed to kill _you_."

Visser Three roared madly, and grabbed Erek by the throat with one hand, and pulled the Android from the doorway.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Erek King had once single-handedly, and effortlessly murdered an entire battalion of Controllers, and a solitary creature was overpowering him!

The Visser threw Erek over his shoulder like a child's toy, and the android smashed into the floor with a metallic clang that disrupted his hologram, revealing the ivory and pearl coloured metal that all Chee were made of.

Visser Three bolted through the door with ferocious speed, and was gone, just as the room was filled with the green light and high-pitched whine that signified the Gleet biofilters were on.

Erek's hologram briefly flickered on to his human disguise, then back to his canine form, back to human again, before settling on his true appearance.

The biofilters shut off, and the normal, harsh white light returned.

"Uh oh," Erek said grimly.

(What's wrong with your disguise, Erek?" Cassie asked, licking both her own, and Visser Three's green blood from his claws. She paused as though to question what she was doing, but then continued.

I could see the problem. Erek's chassis had a small fracture in it, above his left shoulder. Sparks flew periodically from it, and though it appeared to be small, it was apparently causing large problems.

"My holographic matrix has been damaged," he said. "I can't receive the regulation signal from the Pemalite ship until it's repaired."

(Hence, uh oh,) Marco said.

"Indeed," Erek said, rolling his canine eyes.

Across the room, Sub-Visser Thirteen stirred and groaned.

(Erek, I recommend that you hide,) I said.

"I agree," Erek replied, somewhat sarcastically. He scurried away and hid behind the table that the Sub-Visser had me restrained on before.

Sub-Visser Thirteen's eyes fluttered open, and quickly surveyed the ruined remains of her lab.

"Oh my," she said groggily. "The Council of Thirteen is not going to like this," she said with a dismal chuckle. Then, with another surveying glance, she looked at me. "Where is the Visser?" she demanded, now standing up, and starting toward me. My tail twitched. "I don't see a corpse."

(If you take another step,) Tobias said, pressing up a blade to her throat. (We'll be seeing yours.)

The Sub-Visser smiled, and gently pushed Tobias's arms from her larynx. "Not if you still want to beat Visser Three," she said smugly. "He's running amok in the Yeerk pool now. If you think you can fight your way through six thousand Hork-Bajir, you are most welcome to try."

(Hey!) Rachel snarled. (We just saved your miserable life, you little slug! You're in no position to be making veiled threats at us!)

(And how are we to know that killing Visser Three is a good idea?) Marco asked. (For all we know, you could be twice as ruthless as he is, and if we take him down, you could finish us off at your leisure.)

Sub-Visser Thirteen simply smiled, showing pearly white teeth, and eyes full of both charisma, and darkness.

"You will have to trust me," she said slyly.

For the second time in a day, I found myself about to deal with a Yeerk.

"Is not the enemy of my enemy my friend?" the Sub-Visser asked. "And do not worry, Visser Three destroyed my thought-speak implant. I can no longer listen to you."

(You are not my friend, Yeerk,) I spat. (I will kill you at the first sign of treachery.)

"The feeling is mutual," the Yeerk sneered.

(How do you plan on killing Visser Three anyway?) Rachel demanded. (He just wiped us out, how are we meant to kill him?)

"That is a very good question," the Sub-Visser said lightly, waving a hand in a nonchalant motion. "To which I do not have the answer."

(Well that's just great,) Marco muttered.

"But I know someone who does," the Sub-Visser added. "I am certain that you noticed the somewhat ― unusual appearance of Visser Three's body?"

Everyone nodded.

"You will aid me in discovering what the Visser has been doing, and then we shall destroy him."


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"**C**ome now, comrades," the Sub-Visser crooned. "What do you have to lose by helping me?"

(Our lives,) I said.

(Our brains?) Marco added.

(Our planet?) Prince Jake added with affirmation.

Sub-Visser Thirteen raised a barely-visible eyebrow in something akin to amusement. "Such bravado," she said sceptically. "Andalite soldiers have changed since the days of Seerow."

She looked to each of us; myself and my friends in their morphs with a cynical expression, and began to walk over to the computer where Erek was hiding.

(Stop!) I shouted.

The Sub-Visser did not stop. She walked up to the console and stood in front of it with her eyes focused on me.

How had she not seen Erek?

I glanced about the room, and soon found the answer. Erek was standing in a corner of the lab, behind a collapse girder, huddled up as small as he could go. His skills of stealth were compromised without his hologram, but he was still invisible to the Sub-Visser, which was the most important thing.

The Sub-Visser typed something in to the computer, stopped, and then looked at me triumphantly.

I knew why.

She had just used the same computer that Erek had used to reprogram the biofilters…she knew!

"Interesting," Sub-Visser Thirteen said dryly. "My sensors say that there is only one Andalite in this room, when there are clearly five other individuals in morph right in front of me…"

The Sub-Visser spoke with such confidence that there was no doubt she knew our secret in its entirety.

She would have to die.

As if intercepting my thoughts, Rachel was upon the Yeerk in seconds. Half a tonne of grizzly bear squared up to sixty kilos of human with a snarl.

(Make one move, and I'll make your spine look like a slinky toy,) Rachel said fiercely.

"Point taken, _human_," the Sub-Visser said, quite seriously.

(So, you know,) Prince Jake said angrily, slinking forward to stand in front of the Sub-Visser. (I think you should also know that if you try to leave this room, we have someone who'll break you in two,) he said, motioning to Erek with his head.

The canine android stepped out from his hiding place with what I surmised was a bemused expression.

"Morph-capable humans," the Sub-Visser mused. "I don't suppose you have the _Escafil_ device on hand?"

(Not for you,) Cassie hissed.

"Well, even if only one of you is an Andalite, you will do, I suppose."

(You seem disappointed,) Marco sneered. (We're the ones holding off your little 'invasion'.)

"Only because Visser Three is in control," the Sub-Visser shot back.

(One more reason for us to simply kill you, and be done with it,) Rachel said, raising her claws.

(Better the devil you know,) Tobias agreed.

Sub-Visser Thirteen remained stoic. "I am the only one who can get you through Pool security. If you want to get Visser Three, and stop him from killing any more Controllers, I am the only one who can help you."

She grinned. "You need me. But, I also need you."

(What for, aside from spilling the blood?) Marco asked.

"I cannot access Visser Three's personal files," the Sub-Visser confessed. "I cannot divine his access codes, and I need them if I am to discover what he has done to himself. Do this for me, and I will take you to him."

(Erek?) Prince Jake said.

"On it," Erek replied, rushing to the computer, and pushing the Sub-Visser aside. His hands whirled over the keys faster than even my eyes could keep up with, and seconds later he stopped. "Done," he announced.

(And?) Prince Jake inquired.

"Okay, here's the low-down," Erek began. It is amusing to hear him speak. Despite the fact that Erek King is an ancient android so advanced that he makes Andalite starships look like steam engines, he speaks like a teenage human.

"Visser Three has come across a piece of machinery called a Genotron, and he's been playing with it."

(A Genotron?) I asked. (I have not heard of that device. What is its function?)

"It's an Arn invention," Erek said. "A machine that messes about with DNA. This one is a smaller version of the computer the Arn used to design the Hork-Bajir."

Sub-Visser Thirteen chuckled to herself. Evidently she knew of such machines.

"According to his research notes, Visser Three and Chapman have been blending the DNA of more than ten races into one in order to create a new, super-host to serve in the Yeerk armies," Erek continued. "And, being the egomaniac that he is, Visser Three demanded the first Hybrid, as he calls them, for himself."

"But it didn't work," Erek said with a wry smile on his metal features. "The Genotron has not only created a mix of the bodies of the different aliens, it has created separate consciousnesses inside the body, and Visser Three can't control them."

(That explains why I was speaking to both Visser Three and Alloran-Semitur-Corrass,) I said.

"Is that it?" the Sub-Visser demanded.

"Not quite," Erek replied. "Visser Three's last entry in the research log states that he is planning to leave for the Yeerk capital on the Hork-Bajir planet to show his new creation to the Council of Thirteen."

(I'm sure he'll give them a first hand demonstration of how effective it is at killing," Prince Jake said bitterly.

(Not our problem,) Rachel snorted.

(I beg to differ,) I interjected. (Under the leadership of the Council of Thirteen, Yeerk resources are spread thinly and deployed cautiously, as per Visser One's plan. It is the reason the Andalites are able to hold them off, despite vast Yeerk numerical superiority.)

"If the Visser kills the Council, he will no doubt assume command of the fleet, and order a direct attack on the Andalite homeworld with everything we have," the Sub-Visser said with a sardonic smile. "The Andalites will fall."

(We will _not_,) I said with pride. (But the losses to my people would be terrible, and we would have nearly no warning. It is my duty as an _aristh_ to stop Visser Three.)

"Very well," Sub-Visser Thirteen said. "We shall destroy Visser Three, together, and then I shall assume control of the Earth invasion."

(We would want that, why exactly?) Rachel asked with a scoff.

"Because I want the invasion to take as long as possible," the Yeerk replied. "If I am in control, I can delay the invasion until my research is complete, and then order a withdrawal."

She was lying; I knew she had to be.

(That's bull,) Marco said harshly. (No way would she just give up.)

"Actually, I would," the Sub-Visser said.

(Yeerks want power,) I pointed out. (if you withdraw the invasion, you will have lost the Empire the class-five species that Visser One found for you; the _only_ class-five species. You will be executed for treason.)

"No, you moron," the Sub-Visser snapped. "I will be hailed as a hero. These invasions are costly, both in terms of life and in resources. I am working on developing genetically engineered hosts for use by Yeerk symbionts in place of stolen hosts."

(Like yours?) Marco sneered.

"My host is a voluntary one," Sub-Visser Thirteen hissed.

"And what reason do we have to trust you?" Erek asked sceptically. "I know I'm just a machine, but I'm not stupid. It would take decades for you to clone enough hosts to even satisfy the Yeerks on this planet alone."

"Very true," the Sub-Visser agreed. "But I am prepared to order a withdrawal from this world nonetheless if we kill Visser Three. Do we have a deal or not?"

(We cannot trust her, Prince Jake,) I said in private thought speak. (No Yeerk would give up potential for power so easily.)

(What about Aftran?) Prince Jake replied seriously.

I didn't reply. Aftran 942 was a Yeerk who had once tried to kill Cassie in revenge for Cassie murdering her Hork-Bajir controller brother, but in the end, most, ironically, Aftran and Cassie made their peace, and Aftran herself became the leader of a small dissident group calling themselves the Yeerk Peace Movement.

I wondered then if the Sub-Visser could be a member of that group…no, it was impossible. I reminded myself that Aftran was now swimming in the ocean. The Peace Movement was leaderless.

(Your point is well taken, Prince Jake,) I said embarrassedly.

Prince Jake looked to everyone one after the other, and said (time to demorph.)

Moments later, Sub-Visser Thirteen's laboratory was no longer a zoo, but home to an Andalite, a Chee, a Yeerk, four humans in ridiculous artificial skins, and one red-tailed hawk.

"A _nothlit_?" the Sub-Visser said imperiously, looking at Tobias. What a shame, a poor, innocent human falling victim to crude Andalite technology…and as for the rest of you, well…" Sub-Visser Thirteen practically fell over laughing. Humans frequently nearly fall over, you see. "You are children!" she shrieked in excitement. "If only the Council knew!"

(They are not to know,) I said forcefully. (It would mean the end of the human resistance.) I swayed my tail from side to side, making sure the light caught my blade. (We do not want that to happen.)

"Yes, resistance is so much fun," the Sub-Visser snickered. "I myself am something of a dissident, you know."

Was it possible?

"The Peace Movement?" Cassie blurted out. "You're a member of the Yeerk Peace Movement?"

Sub-Visser Thirteen snorted indignantly. "Nothing so crude," she said disgustedly. "I am the founder and leader of the Evolutionist Front."

"What?" was the resounding reply from my human friends, and myself for that matter. Except for Prince Jake. His face betrayed a look of recognition, for just a second.

"The Evolutionist Front, or EF, is a group I founded some ten years ago, when Yeerk expansion was at its peak. The Front's aim is to develop a genetically engineered host superior to all others, to eliminate the need for violent expansionary campaigns."

(It would appear that Visser Three has accomplished your goal, Sub-Visser,) I said acidly. (His host seems far superior to any I have encountered before.)

Sub-Visser Thirteen looked almost offended. "Superior, you say?" she said distantly. "That monstrosity is not superior. It is strong, yes, and it is fast and powerful, but it is not superior."

Prince Jake looked exasperated. "Look, Erek gave you the information you wanted! Now we want Visser Three."

"To the point," the Sub-Visser nodded. "I like you. Very well, I will take us to Visser Three."

She tapped a few keys on her computer. "Thanks to the modifications your friend made to the biofilters, Visser Three is showing up quite clearly on the Pool's sensors. He is moving through the corridors surrounding the central complex, heading toward the starport."

(Visser Three intends to leave the planet!)

"Very astute," the Sub-Visser said acerbically. She leaned down over the computer console, and cleared her throat. "This is Sub-Visser Thirteen to all forces. Seal off the starport. No one is to leave or enter until I arrive," she said forcefully. "If anyone is left outside the Pool or the starport when I arrive, they will die."

A rasping Hork-Bajir voice responded with something I assume was a 'yes'.

"I'll follow you later," Erek said. "I need to get a message out to my people first, and I'll follow once I'm fit to." And then, Erek King was gone in a blur of speed.

"Come, you fools!" Sub-Visser Thirteen barked, walking to the remains of the door Visser Three had used to escape.

"How are we meant to catch Visser Three?" Cassie asked. "He's got a big lead on us."

The Sub-Visser tapped the side of her nose. "Have you not already learned that I deal in surprises?"


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

**M**oments later, my friends, Erek and Sub-Visser Thirteen and myself were cruising down the corridors of the Yeerk pool complex in what I can only describe as a most unsafe mode of transportation.

What humans refer to as a 'car', and large one at that.

The Sub-Visser was at the wheel, driving most carelessly at unsafe velocities down a very confined space, with Erek to her left, and the rest of us in the back.

"SKREEE!"

Splat.

(I believe we have just driven over a number of Taxxons,) I said gingerly, trying very hard to control my stomachs.

Sub-Visser Thirteen cackled and put her foot down on the accelerator. Hard.

I jerked backward as the vehicle increased speed, narrowly missing a running phalanx of Hork-Bajir.

(I will never understand the human predilection to pilot vehicles at unsafe velocities,) I said worriedly.

The Sub-Visser called back over the roar of the engine. "There is nothing wrong with going host-happy now and again," she said heartily.

We turned sharply round a corner, passing a sign that said 'spaceport' in Galard, the universal language used by the Yeerks to enable communication between various host species.

"According to the biofilters," Erek said, "we are gaining on Visser Three. He's really making a run for it."

(Most likely because he heard your announcement, Sub-Visser,) I chided.

"The thrill is in the chase, Andalite," she said with another excited laugh. "You will get your revenge, don't worry. It is in my best interests to help you, after all."

"Yeah, it is," Rachel said. "'Cause if you don't give us the Visser, I'll kill you."

Our vehicle turned another corner somewhat harshly, and Cassie fell into my side, as did Prince Jake. Humans have terrible balance.

"STOP!" came an angry Hork-Bajir voice.

Rather than stopping, which is what I expected her to do, the Sub-Visser accelerated even more, and ran the Hork-Bajir down. He screamed as five tonnes of car crunched over him, and then was silent.

"That was murder!" Cassie screamed.

"No, it was someone being in the wrong place at the wrong time," Rachel corrected.

"Exactly," the Sub-Visser agreed.

Cassie said nothing, but I could tell by her expression she was disgusted.

After another minute of reckless driving, the Sub-Visser brought the car to a halt at a corner, and motioned for us to get out of the back. We did so.

Around the corner, I could hear Hork-Bajir and human voices talking anxiously. Lots of them.

"I shall clear a path to the spaceport," the Sub-Visser said huskily. "You must go inside and prepare an ambush for Visser Three when the doors open." Then, the Yeerk swaggered about the corner and began howling orders.

"Why are you morons standing around here?" Sub-Visser Thirteen shrieked. "Visser Three is heading for the pool!"

Several Hork-Bajir voices chattered excitedly, but one human voice rose out above the rest.

Chapman.

"Sub-Visser Thirteen, we have orders to guard the spaceport," Chapman insisted.

"Orders from whom?" the Sub-Visser growled.

"The Council of Thirteen." Chapman whimpered.

I heard the sound of human flesh striking more human flesh, and Chapman yelled out in pain.

"And what if Visser Three destroys the Pool? How will you explain THAT to the Council?" the Sub-Visser screamed.

"But ―"

"SILENCE!" the Sub-Visser roared. "Take this gaggle of idiots with you to the pool and apprehend the Visser, now!"

Chapman did not choose to reply, but I soon heard the unmistakable clatter of clawed Hork-Bajir feet on the steel floor all around us.

The sound soon dimmed.

"You may enter the spaceport," the Sub-Visser said quietly. "Enter the Blade ship and position yourselves appropriately."

My friends and I crawled out of the Sub-Visser's vehicle awkwardly, and as my five human companions walked through the large door behind her, the Sub-Visser stopped me.

(What is it?) I asked impatiently.

"There is something I must ask you, comrade Andalite," the Sub-Visser said, with an expression of absolute seriousness.

(I have ears,) I replied. (I shall hear.)

"If I should be killed by Visser Three, please do not let my hosts' body remain here. She is a voluntary host, and I wish for this body to be interred according to human funeral rites."

I was surprised by the sincerity in the Sub-Visser's voice, but I could not ignore such a honourable request, and certainly not from a woman.

(You have my word, Sub-Visser,) I said.

The Sub-Visser smiled, and inclined her head respectfully. "Now go," she said, returning to her imperious tone of voice.

I knew why. Prince Jake was standing behind me, In Hork-Bajir morph.

(Come on, Ax. We've got an ambush to lay,) he said pryingly.

I walked with Prince Jake into the Yeerk spaceport, and saw four other Hork-Bajir standing in a line just at the rear of Visser Three's Blade ship, which sat docked along a wall, with two Bug fighters along its flanks.

(I shall check the inside of the Blade ship,) I announced.

I walked up to the back of the ship, and a ramp extended down and outwards from the rear of the craft, and a small door opened up above it.

I felt a finger tap my shoulder.

(I'm coming too,) Marco said. (Don't know what kind of booby-traps the Visser's got in there.)

I nodded, and walked up the ramp into the ship with Marco beside me, while Rachel and Prince Jake, Cassie and Tobias positioned themselves on either side of the door to the spaceport.

Suddenly, the door to the ship closed behind Marco and I, sealing shut with a hiss of compressed air.

(Now that doesn't quite seem right,) Marco said warily, walking past me towards the door that led to the storeroom on the Blade ship.

(It is standard on Yeerk ships for doors to close behind entrants,) I said. (They fear assassination so much that such paranoia is common practise.)

Marco walked through the door in his clumsy Hork-Bajir morph, the door slid shut behind him, and as I moved toward it myself, I heard him scream.

(Marco!) I yelled, hurrying forward.

The door opened, and Marco was in the doorway.

He was not alone.

(If you make an aggressive move, I will sever this one's head from his shoulders,) said a voice.

I froze, because as Marco walked forward, there was a blade at his throat. An Andalite tail blade, and I knew whom it belonged to.

Because there, holding his blade to my friend's throat, and threatening me in his terribly familiar voice, was the iniquitous, infamous War-Prince, Alloran-Semitur-Corrass.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

**(Y**ou heard me, Yeerk!) Alloran barked. (Move, and I'll kill this one!)

The War-Prince's tail blade danced around Marco's throat, and despite the nearly blank features of a Hork-Bajir, it was apparent that he was terrified, and for good reason.

I had spoken to Alloran, or rather, a genetically engineered copy of Alloran less than an hour before, and the real one appeared to be displaying the same unstable behaviour. The only change seemed to be that the insanity had shifted from evil to paranoia.

(I am not a Yeerk, War-Prince Alloran,) I said calmingly, willing that somehow my friends would enter the Blade ship and help me. (I am Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, brother of Elfangor.)

This Alloran recognised the name as well. But instead of being angry, he trembled and grew pale.

(Elfangor is dead,) Alloran said, with a terrible finality to his words. (He's dead.)

(Yes, he is,) I confirmed. (He died in battle, as any Andalite would hope to.)

(I killed him,) Alloran whispered. (I…killed your brother.)

It was true, in a sick, twisted way; Alloran-Semitur-Corrass was my brothers' murderer. But that was not what he needed to hear.

(No, Visser Three slew Elfangor in cold blood,) I said as soothingly as I could, but nothing could hide the raw emotion in my voice. (You are not responsible, War-Prince.)

Alloran trembled even more when I spoke Visser Three's name, and I wondered how exactly the War-Prince was conscious, with Marco at blade-point.

I soon found my answer.

Directly behind Alloran and Marco, just through the door, there was a long cylinder frosted over with ice; what could only be a Yeerk stasis chamber. The glass front had been smashed from the inside.

Alloran pressed his tail blade up against Marco's throat, and drew a line across his larynx that seeped purple Hork-Bajir blood.

(You will get me off this planet, now!) Alloran hissed. (Or I will kill your comrade!)

(I cannot, War-Prince,) I replied with trepidation. (As you are no doubt aware, the Andalite fleet is not here, and I do not have a ship at my disposal. Why can you not use the Blade ship?) I asked. (Surely your DNA is accepted as a valid user ID.)

Alloran's face fell. (Visser Three had me removed from the manifest when he took his new host.)

(Umm, Ax?) Marco said worriedly. (I could use some help. This morph is strong, but this guy is way stronger. Try and get the cavalry to march in.)

By cavalry, Marco meant Prince Jake and the others. But I knew asking them to abandon their position would allow Visser Three to escape. I could do nothing except play to Alloran until Sub-Visser Thirteen informed me otherwise.

Alloran's eyes glared at me furiously, but before he could decapitate Marco, the Blade ship, and presumably the rest of the spaceport, shook violently, and the electrostatic whine of Dracon beams pierced the air.

The ship rocked again, and Marco smashed Alloran across the face, and slipped out from his lock, past his tail, and rolled to my side.

Alloran roared and leapt at us with his tail thrusting forward with great quickness, but thankfully, Marco was quicker. He threw himself forward into a roll, and kicked Alloran's front legs so that he fell clumsily forward onto the deck with a clang.

I pushed my blade to his head.

(Do not make me end you, Alloran-Semitur-Corrass,) I said forebodingly. (You are too great an ally.)

Marco got up and walked past us. He opened the door to the spaceport, and started backward.

(There's a firefight going on down there!) he shouted.

I could hear it. Dracon beams were firing manically through the spaceport, and Hork-Bajir screams echoed though the hollow halls with terrible harmony.

(It's the Visser!) Marco yelled. (He's mowing down the Hork-Bajir, heading right for us!)

(I suggest we abandon ship,) I said as calmly as possible.

(Seconded,) Marco said.

I looked at Alloran, who lay whimpering on the deck, his hands covering his eyes.

(Do not let him take me again,) he cried.

I leaned out of the half-open door into the cavernous hangar bay, and saw at least a hundred Hork-Bajir firing Dracon rifles at Visser Three's monstrous host body, who was tearing them apart like rag dolls, and moving slowly, but inexorably toward us.

"Keep fighting!" I heard someone cry. "Do not let him reach the Blade ship!"

It was Sub-Visser Thirteen, and four other Hork-Bajir, standing at the very back of the Hork-Bajir line close to a Yeerk ship of a design I had never seen before.

They were over a hundred metres away, there was no way they could get to me, or I to them.

(Marco, we must break through the Hork-Bajir lines to that ship,) I said, pointing at the ship the Sub-Visser was standing by, roaring her orders to the Hork-Bajir army.

(Do not leave me!) Alloran wailed. (Don't leave me for him to find, please!)

Marco ignored Alloran's pleading, but hauled the broken War-Prince to his feet, and gestured to the door.

(You're a war-type guy,) Marco said. (You lead the way.)

(I am no warrior,) Alloran said bitterly. (I am a puppet, and a murderer.)

(And you are an Andalite!) I screeched at Alloran. (You will behave like one! Do not shun yourself from responsibility, War-Prince Alloran.)

Alloran moved cautiously past Marco, and peered out of the door. He shuddered, but did not move.

I could hardly believe what I was seeing. Alloran-Semitur-Corrass had once been the most ruthless and respected warrior amongst our people, and it was apparent by his muscular physique and imposing presence that he was once a great fighter as well, but to see him trembling like a child after what Visser Three had made him endure, it was shameful.

Perhaps if I could help Alloran become what he had once been, I could absolve Elfangor of the sin of allowing him to be taken in the first place.

I would soon know, because Alloran bolted out of the door and landed gracefully on the concrete beneath. Marco and I followed, and were all soon overwhelmed by the acrid stench of Dracon fire mixed with burning concrete and Hork-Bajir viscera.

And through it all, Visser Three moved unhindered. His body was scarred and somewhat burned by Dracon fire, but he was seemingly fine. To watch him tearing through the Hork-Bajir in an uncontrollable rage was more than terrifying, and then, I saw something else.

As one Hork-Bajir, standing right in front of the Visser raised his weapon to fire, Visser Three vanished from sight.

The Hork-Bajir looked about confusedly, just as Visser Three ran forward faster than I could see clearly, and took off the Hork-Bajir's head with a well-aimed swipe of his tail.

I had seen Visser Three move that fast only once before, in the Sub-Visser's lab, but only now did I know how he did.

The Visser's host was part Garatron, which begged the question as to why he was moving to the Blade ship so slowly. The answer was simple. Visser Three loved to kill.

(Ax-man!)

Tobias shoved past other Hork-Bajir soldiers and ran to me as the rest marched on Visser Three, and I saw Marco and Alloran break into a run for the other ship.

(Jake's not all for it, but the Sub-Visser says we have to take off and try to stop Visser Three in space,) Tobias said with trepidation. (I'm sure you've already worked this out, but if an entire battalion of Hork-Bajir cant even slow him down, five animals and two Andalites aren't going to make a dent in his shiny new armour.)

(I agree,) I said bitterly. (Though I do not believe Visser Three's armour to be shimmering in any way.)

(It's an expression, Ax,) Tobias said with a grim laugh.

Then the two of us made a break for Sub-Visser Thirteen and the rest of our comrades. The Yeerk greeted us less than warmly.

"Could you have possibly come any slower!" the Sub-Visser roared. She threw her hands up in exasperation. "Your friends and Visser Three's useless former host are inside, I suggest you follow suit."


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

**T**obias and I walked past the Sub-Visser and into what I assumed was her personal ship. It was considerably smaller than the Blade ship, with only two separate compartments: a cargo hold, which was stocked with containers, and the bridge which had one central elevated chair, two on each side on that, and two more in front, each one with an integrated station.

It was not a vessel designed for Andalites.

"Just sit down somewhere and don't get in the way!" Sub-Visser Thirteen exclaimed, brushing past me and storming onto the bridge.

She ordered my Hork-Bajir-morphed friends to take the four consoles flanking the elevated one that was, naturally, hers.

Outside, the battle between Visser Three and the Hork-Bajir continued apace, as reinforcements poured in to the hangar from the main pool complex, with Chapman fearfully shouting orders over the sound of the weapons fire and the Hork-Bajir screams.

We could see all of this on a small virtual window on the right wall of the Sub-Visser's ship. The Sub-Visser herself was moving from each of the four computer stations at which Prince Jake, Rachel, Tobias and Marco were sitting, and Cassie was sat down along a wall, next to Prince Jake. Sub-Visser Thirteen appeared to be instructing my friends in the use of her computers.

Then she whirled around to myself and Alloran, who was staring in terror at the screen showing Visser Three's slaughter of the Hork-Bajir.

"We shall take off as soon as the Visser has entered the Blade ship," she announced imperiously. "Once we have achieved orbit, we shall destroy Visser Three's ship, and we shall land."

(I do not wish to sound pessimistic,) I said, (but this vessel appears to be no match for the Blade ship. From what I can see, this is a short-range science craft, and the Blade ship is a vessel built only for war.) I paused for effect. (We will all be killed.)

Sub-Visser Thirteen swaggered past me and placed herself between Alloran and the virtual window.

"And what do you think, host?" she sneered. "Do you think we can defeat Visser Three?"

Alloran glanced up to meet the Sub-Visser's impetuous gaze with a glazed-over expression.

(If we do not destroy Visser Three, he will utterly destroy both Earth, and the Andalite homeworld.) Alloran looked dejectedly to each of us in turn. (We will win, because we must. There is no alternative.)

Sub-Visser Thirteen looked impressed. "You seem to know Visser Three's plan in some detail, for a dementia-affected host," she snickered. "Tell us the rest of it."

(No!) Alloran exclaimed. (I won't, don't make me! I must have _Kynareth_!)

All eyes were on me.

(It is a form of ritual suicide,) I explained. (Normally reserved for disgraced warriors.)

"He _is_ a disgrace," Sub-Visser Thirteen said with a sneer. "Look at him, a grown Andalite _warrior_, whimpering like a grub. That is nothing if not disgraceful."

Alloran's eyes suddenly blazed with anger. He started for the Sub-Visser, and raised his blade in a lightning-quick motion for her throat.

The Sub-Visser drew her sidearm.

(Well, this is grown up, isn't it,) Cassie said snidely. (You're not going to solve anything, either of you!)

Sub-Visser Thirteen had a Dracon pistol aimed at Alloran's forehead, and he had his blade a centimetre from her throat. If either of them moved, one or both of them would die.

"Tell us the Visser's plan, or die," Sub-Visser Thirteen said coolly.

(Yeerk scum!) Alloran roared.

(Alloran!) Prince Jake called, walking up the War-Prince in his normal, human body. (I know what you've been through,) he said soothingly. (I've had a Yeerk in my head as well. Marco's mother is Visser One, so he knows what it's like too." Prince Jake looked to me with a nod. "Even Ax has been a host."

I had, just once. When I had fallen afoul of _Yamphut_, Cassie had Aftran 942 infest me so she could help Cassie perform surgery that saved my life. I did not enjoy the experience, but the end justified the means.

(Lies!) Alloran howled. (You will turn me over to Visser Three!)

"No, but I will slaughter you like an animal if you don't help me," Sub-Visser Thirteen growled.

I looked up at the virtual window. Visser Three was gone, and the starport was silent. I whispered an Andalite prayer for the hundreds of slain Hork-Bajir outside. They were enemies, but their bravery was commendable.

Then, the Sub-Visser's ship shook violently, and a subsonic boom rattled through it. Sub-Visser Thirteen stumbled into her command chair, and gestured angrily for everyone else to return to their stations.

"Visser Three has taken off!" Sub-Visser Thirteen called. "Human!" she roared to Prince Jake. "Pursuit course, now!"

I laughed at the crude way Prince Jake said what Sub-Visser Thirteen could do with her pursuit course, but he placed his hands on the controls of the ship, and blasted us forward, up into an escape tunnel, and seconds later we were in the Earth sky, with the sun slowly setting.

My friends demorphed from Hork-Bajir.

The Blade ship was some way ahead, and gaining distance with every passing second.

The Sub-Visser ran forward to Prince Jake's console, and slapped a few keys, then moved toward me.

"The ship will now pursue Visser Three on its own," she said somewhat proudly.

(To what end?) Alloran asked nervously.

Sub-Visser Thirteen tilted her head slightly and met his gaze directly. "To the Hork-Bajir planet."

"You're kidding!" Marco shrieked. "We're NOT going there!"

The Sub-Visser stood in front of Alloran and placed her hands on her hips.

"We will be fine, so long as Visser Three's leftovers here is prepared to divulge the niceties of his plan."

(On one condition,) Alloran said sternly, trying desperately to keep a firm composure.

"Which is?" the Sub-Visser crooned.

(That I kill Visser Three myself,) he said, spitting out the words as though they were poison. (He has stolen my honour, and his debts must be paid.)

"Your terms are acceptable," Sub-Visser Thirteen purred. "Now, what is the Visser's plan?"

Alloran drew a deep breath. (Visser Three is not going to the homeworld. He is first going to Alpha Centauri, the neighbouring star to this one, to rendezvous with Visser Five and his forces. Then the two of them will travel to the Hork-Bajir planet, lay waste to its defenders, and then assume control of the planet.)

"Wait a second," Rachel said. "Visser Three just butchered a whole army of Hork-Bajir without so much as breaking a sweat. Why does he need help?"

"Because our capital planet is defended by weapons of such power that they make the most powerful human nuclear bombs seem like toys. Visser Three will be shot down before he can land." Sub-Visser Thirteen smiled grimly. "Even he cannot breathe in space."

"So, what's the plan?" Marco asked. "Are we going after Visser Three before he reaches his buddy, or are we going to set a trap?"

Sub-Visser Thirteen sat down on her chair. She pressed a single key, and laughed.

"_We_ will do nothing," she cackled. "_I_ shall take the seven of you to the capital, where I shall hand you over to the Council of Thirteen for infestation."

Alloran walked up to the Sub-Visser and gave her a piercing look. (You shall do nothing,) he said, (if I eviscerate you.)

With that, Alloran drew back his tail and sliced it forward at Sub-Visser Thirteen's throat, and immediately stopped as his blade collided not with the Sub-Visser, but with a phosphorescent shield of orange energy that rippled where his blade impacted. The shield extended spherically around the Sub-Visser and her chair.

"A brave, but futile effort," Sub-Visser Thirteen crowed.

(You've been in league with Visser Three all along, haven't you!) I snarled. (Just to capture us!)

The Sub-Visser looked offended. "Actually, no, I have not," she said crisply. "I _do_ want Visser Three destroyed, and I _do_ want his position, but what I do not want is to be executed for treason by allowing my enemies to do it for me."


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Sub-Visser Thirteen relaxed into her chair. "I suggest that you make yourselves comfortable," she laughed. "When we arrive at the homeworld, you shall not be relaxing," and then she added bitterly, "ever again."

I felt fear, sorrow and despair all flood into me at once, because I knew then that our situation was hopeless. If an Andalite blade could not pierce her shield, then nothing else we had would. The Sub-Visser herself held the only Dracon beam.

"Computer, lay in a course for the Hork-Bajir planet, maximum acceleration," the Sub-Visser said triumphantly.

The ship lurched forward, and I saw the stars shift slowly into nothing, as the black of space faded out into the white, bland background of zero-space.

"Visser Three will kill you," Marco said. "He'll meet up with that buddy of his, then come and kick your sorry butt."

Sub-Visser Thirteen stood up, but did not step forward from her chair.

"No, he will not. I shall inform the Council of his treachery and the fleet will be recalled in the capital's defence once they hear the testimony of Visser Three's leftover host." Sub-Visser Thirteen laughed madly.

"You made us run through a maze," Rachel said angrily.

"On the contrary," the Yeerk argued. "I simply built the maze. You all ran through it like well-trained Gedds. Even you, _War-Prince_," she said mockingly.

(I shall say nothing to your Council,) Alloran said defiantly. (I would sooner die than help you.)

Sub-Visser Thirteen sighed, raised a hand to the ceiling, and immediately, Alloran's recorded thought-speak boomed through the ship, reciting Visser Three's grandiose plan.

(I will enjoy watching you die,) Alloran hissed.

"And I shall enjoy watching your spirit break when the Council of Thirteen declare you ready for a new Controller," the Sub-Visser answered with a hiss.

I stepped up to the Yeerk. (Tell me, Sub-Visser,) I asked. (If you were able to construct so elaborate a trap for us, why did you not simply destroy Visser Three yourself?)

"I am a thinker, not a doer," the Sub-Visser said haughtily. "I will not soil my hands doing the work of mere soldiers. Certainly not when such help is made so readily available to me, even from my enemies."

It was hopeless. This Yeerk had outwitted us…outwitted me. She had calculated every possible move and countermove in advance, simply to get her hands on Alloran and the rest of us. With us, she would bring down Visser Three, halt his coup, and be hailed as a hero, simply because my friends and I had investigated a murder.

It was my fault. I should have anticipated it. But I did not. I had failed my friends and shamed my people.

(I am sorry, Prince Jake,) I said in private thought-speak, as the Sub-Visser leaned back into her chair. (I have failed you, and I have failed your planet. I am useless.)

Prince Jake was not in morph, and couldn't reply, but I could see from the expression on his face that he shared my sentiment…he knew we were defeated.

(We cannot surrender, Aximili,) Alloran said to me.

(You were prepared to end yourself moments ago, War-Prince,) I said bitterly. (What can we do? The Yeerk has beaten us.)

Alloran smiled in the way that only an Andalite can, and looked to me. (I was Visser Three's host,) he said. (I am quite certain that most of the Yeerks still believe that to be true. We can use that to our advantage.) Alloran paused, and looked at Sub-Visser Thirteen. (We just need to trick her as well as she has tricked us.)

I inclined my head in agreement, and watched as Sub-Visser Thirteen tapped a few keys on the small console on the arm of her chair, and a larger console fell down from the ceiling and held in place in front of her.

(I recommend activating the ship's emergency distress beacon,) Alloran said. (All Yeerk ships are equipped with one. It will summon every Yeerk vessel within twenty light years to our location within minutes.)

I gave Alloran an incredulous look. (Pardon me, War-Prince, but why would we want the Yeerks coming to our aid?)

(Because, _aristh_,) Alloran said condescendingly, (if we summon a Yeerk vessel, staffed by Taxxons, we can commandeer it for ourselves, and continue our mission to destroy Visser Three, whom, if you have not already deduced, most Yeerks consider me to still be host to.)

Without moving, I relayed this information to Prince Jake, and the others in turn. If this plan were to work, it would require no less than miraculous cooperation and organisation on the parts of Alloran and myself.

I could see that both Prince Jake and Rachel approved of the plan, and that Marco did not seem to care for it. Cassie appeared dismal.

(It's a great idea, Ax,) Tobias said from a small perch he had found at the back of the bridge. (But how are we going to find this beacon thing?)

(It will be accessible from the communications console,) Alloran said, indicating the station at which Marco was sitting. (In her arrogance, the Yeerk has not locked out the other consoles.)

All of the buttons and keys on the four stations my friends sat at were still alight. Alloran was right.

(I do not know what to do, War-Prince,) I said. (You must tell Marco what to do, and how to do it very quickly. If the Yeerk finds out what we are doing too soon, she will deactivate the beacon.)

(Understood,) Alloran said. He then began to speak to Marco privately, and I watched the Sub-Visser working feverishly at her computer.

She noticed me watching her, and smiled at me. "If you are interested, I am drafting my speech for the promotion ceremony." Sub-Visser Thirteen rested her chin on a hand. "Now, what will my first act as the new Visser Three be? Hmm…decisions, decisions." The Yeerk laughed at her own humour and looked away from me back to the computer where she continued to write.

Marco risked looking to me. The Sub-Visser did not notice as my human friend shot me a wry smile, and began to execute Alloran's plan with all the precision I have come to expect of my comrades.

Keys beeped as Marco's hands moved over them, with Alloran giving him instructions and assurance as he did so.

This roused the Sub-Visser's attention.

"What are you doing?" she demanded, rising to her feet.

Marco continued to work.

"Answer me!" Sub-Visser Thirteen roared.

She got no reply.

With a hiss, Sub-Visser Thirteen sat down and began tapping commands into the console built into her command chair. In seconds, her expression showed that she knew what Marco was doing.

"You've activated the distress beacon!" she exclaimed in fear.

"Yep," Marco replied victoriously. "And in a few minutes we'll have every Yeerk in a dozen light years here to get us away from you."

The ship lurched forward as we dropped out of Zero-space, translating back to the blackness of normal space.

(Your move,) Alloran laughed. (In seconds, your own people will destroy you. How deliciously ironic.)


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

**T**he Yeerk sneered. "And why would they do that?"

"Because you are holding Visser Three prisoner," Prince Jake announced, pointing at Alloran.

Sub-Visser Thirteen's brow glistened with nervous sweat, and she trembled slightly. "I have already informed the homeworld that Visser Three has a new host."

(No you have not,) Alloran said acidly. (If you had done that, some other Yeerk could claim to have uncovered the Abomination's plan. You would not give up potential for power so easily.)

The Sub-Visser knew she was trapped. I could see it on her face, and hear it in her laboured breathing.

"This is all a misunderstanding," the Sub-Visser said, raising her hands upward on a human motion of subservience.

(Come out from the energy shield,) Alloran commanded.

"I shall do no such thing," the Yeerk snapped. "If I do that, how am I to know you will not kill me?"

(Allow me to explain. If you come out of the shield, we _may_ kill you. If you remain inside, your people _will_ kill you,) I said, relishing the situation. (Make the choice.)

Sub-Visser Thirteen trembled terribly, but rose to her feet. She waved a hand in front of her, and the orange column of light enveloping her chair rippled into nothing.

In less than a second, Alloran was upon her. He struck the Yeerk with the flat of his blade across her back. Not hard, but with enough force to knock the Sub-Visser from her feet and onto the floor. As she fell, her Dracon beam sidearm fell from its holster, right into Rachel's outstretched hands.

Rachel levelled the Dracon beam at our former captor. "Don't move, Yeerk."

The Sub-Visser did not move.

"What are you planning on doing?" the Sub-Visser demanded of us. "Without me, you will not penetrate the security of the homeworld. That aside, you still have every Yeerk ship that beacon of yours alerted en route to us. You need me."

(All we need is your brain,) Alloran said smugly. (We do not need you, Yeerk.)

I was quite amazed. Our situation had completely reversed from being total disaster, to being the single greatest tactical opportunity in the history of the war with the Yeerks.

(War-Prince,) I said. (We know Visser Three plans to attack the Hork-Bajir world. If we act carefully, we could take down Visser Three, and the entire Yeerk leadership in one fell swoop.)

"We could end the war today," Prince Jake said solemnly.

"What you are suggesting is tantamount to genocide!" Sub-Visser Thirteen exclaimed. "If Visser Three's fleet reaches the capital, he will lay it to waste. Untold millions of Yeerks will die!"

I watched then as Sub-Visser Thirteen's face drained of colour, and she convulsed. The others saw it too. The Yeerk was in need of Kandrona; she would die without it.

Was it right to let her die in such a way? Alloran would have thought so. The decision was not mine.

Just then, a noisy alarm interrupted the angered speech on the bridge, and the lights of the Sub-Visser's ship began to glow red.

"We have a problem," Cassie said from her computer. "The computer says that three Bug fighters have just dropped out of Zero-space right in front of us."

BEEP! BEEP!

(We are being hailed,) I said. (Prince Jake, everyone, into the hold! They cannot see any humans on this vessel,) I looked at our former captor. (Except you. Of course.)

My friends scurried back into the room behind the bridge, and Alloran strode forward so that he was directly in front of the viewscreen, and I placed my tail blade within reach of the Sub-Visser's throat.

(Stay where you are, play along, and I will refrain from severing your head,) I warned her.

The viewscreen flickered to life, and a Hork-Bajir wearing a flight helmet appeared on it, with two Taxxon-Controllers behind him.

"Sub-Visser Thirt— oh," the Hork-Bajir said, having apparently noticed whom he assumed to be his leader right in front of him. "Visser Three, I had heard that you were on your way to the capital on board the Blade ship."

(Does it look like I am aboard my vessel?) Alloran hissed. It was uncanny how easily the harsh tone of Visser Three came to him. (I was travelling with this miserable excuse for a subordinate because her ship is faster. This former Andalite bandit, now a loyal Controller, helped me stop her.)

"When then, Visser, did you send a distress call?"

(Because she tried to kill me!) Alloran roared at the Hork-Bajir. (You will board this vessel, and take her into custody.)

The Hork-Bajir raised a sceptical eyebrow, or rather, the point on the Hork-Bajir face where an eyebrow would be. "I was unaware that Visser Three allowed his betrayers to live."

Oh no, I thought. Alloran had just made a fatal error. Visser Three always killed his opponents. The Hork-Bajir knew that.

"Visser Three, I have no choice but to believe that the Andalites have somehow compromised you, and that the other Andalite with you is not a Controller. You have twenty seconds to state today's security code, or I will destroy your vessel," the Hork-Bajir said neutrally.

Sub-Visser Thirteen laughed bitterly. "So much for your plan, _Visser_," she scoffed.

(Shut. Up,) I said, forcing my blade up to her larynx.

(You moron!) Alloran barked. (You will take Sub-Visser Thirteen away, or I will kill you, _and_ HER!)

The Hork-Bajir looked back impassively. "You now have fifteen seconds, Visser."

Alloran faltered, and ran to the weapons station at the front of the bridge. (Take her, or die!) he screamed furiously. (_YOU_ now have ten seconds, fool!)

"Seven, six," the Hork-Bajir intoned ominously.

Alloran closed the channel, replacing the Hork-Bajir's face with a black starscape.

Then in the corner of the window, another Bug fighter slipped out of Zero-space, and shot toward the other three. With total amazement, I watched as the new arrival opened fire on the other three. It disabled two of them in less than a second with two perfectly aimed Dracon beam blasts, and turned to the third, which by now had begun to withdraw. The other two Bug fighters drifted with their running lights dimmed. Their engines were destroyed.

The newest Bug fighter lurched forward and destroyed the engines of the last enemy ship, before turning around and moving in toward us.

"Great," I heard Marco mumble. "Now instead of being vaporised by three Bug fighters, its just one."

BEEP! BEEP!

(Not necessarily,) I said, opening the communication channel with the new Bug fighter.

"Hi guys," came a familiar voice.

"Erek!" Marco yelled, running out from the hold, past Alloran and myself and in front of the viewer. "How'd you get all the way out here?"

"Wasn't too hard," Erek the Chee replied with a mischievous grin. "I just downloaded the rest of Visser Three's research files, broke into the Yeerk hangar, tranquillised a few Taxxons and stole myself a Bug fighter."

"Oh yeah, a real walk in the park," Rachel sneered.

"Now then, can I lend you a hand?" Erek asked.


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

**P**rince Jake tied Sub-Visser Thirteen's arms and legs together with some optical data network cable from the hold, and Rachel, in grizzly bear morph, proceeded to smash up all of the computers on the bridge, before tearing the Sub-Visser's command chair from the deck, and hurling it into the hold.

"You plan on leaving me here?" Sub-Visser Thirteen shrieked. "You can't!"

(We can and shall do whatever we please, Yeerk,) Alloran hissed maliciously. (I'm sure a Skrit-Na raider will detect you at some point. Before your oxygen runs out, who can say?)

Sub-Visser Thirteen hissed at us. "Our deal is officially terminated!" she shrieked. "A Yeerk vessel shall rescue me, and I will tell the Council that you are all human!"

(Not all,) Tobias corrected.

"Silence, you filthy pigeon!" the Sub-Visser said furiously.

(Can we take that chance, War-Prince?) I asked. (We cannot have our identities revealed.)

(I concur,) Alloran said. (Set the ship to self-destruct. If she plans on betraying us, we have no choice but to kill her.)

"You can't!" Cassie said, squaring up to Alloran. She stood nearly two feet below him, and with one swipe, Alloran could decapitate her, yet Cassie was not afraid.

(The Yeerk has brought it upon herself by betraying us. She must die, for the good of your planet.)

"That's crap," Cassie hissed. "You just want to kill her because she's a Yeerk. That woman you're condemning to her death? She's an innocent human with no choice in the matter!"

Sub-Visser Thirteen laughed grimly. "My host is voluntary. She is happy to die with me. We are friends, and friends do not abandon each other."

(Do not preach to me of morality, Yeerk!) Alloran roared, lifting the Sub-Visser to her feet.

"Stop it!" Prince Jake yelled, stepping between Cassie and Alloran defiantly. "She's coming with us."

(You dare to defy me, human?) Alloran asked darkly.

Prince Jake met Alloran's fierce gaze without fear. "You're no different to Visser Three."

FWAPP!

Alloran struck Prince Jake across the face with the flat of his tail blade and knocked my friend from his feet to the floor next to the Sub-Visser.

(Prince Jake!) I yelled. I had to help him, but I was no match for Alloran. He would kill us both.

(How dare you, human!) Alloran screamed. (I will kill you for your insolence!)

It was clear to me now that being host to Visser Three for so long had irrevocably changed Alloran-Semitur-Corrass. He was insane.

Fortunately, Rachel had noticed this before me, in her grizzly bear morph, she punched Alloran square in the jaw, thumping the War-Prince three metres across the bridge.

Alloran howled in pain, and braced himself against the wall. He ran at Rachel and slashed at her with his tail, narrowly missing her throat, before Rachel leapt at Alloran, and got him in, quite literally, a bear hug.

Rachel held Alloran up from the ground, keeping his body in one enormous arm, and his tail in the other. I was impressed with her strength. An Andalite tail is nothing but nearly unbreakable bone and a single coiled muscle, it was a testament to Rachel's fighting prowess that she could restrain Alloran so.

Marco freed Sub-Visser Thirteen, and helped her to her feet. The Yeerk inclined her head graciously, and walked across the bridge to a small alcove in the wall with the Yeerk symbol for medicine on it; a small sun emitting Kandrona particles. Her eyes were dark, but she kept her composure. Her need for the Kandrona must have been at breaking point.

Sub-Visser Thirteen opened the cupboard and withdrew a small hypodermic needle, filled with a shimmering blue liquid.

(Whatever you're doing, hurry it up,) Rachel said, her voice strained. (He's not making this easy.)

Alloran screamed and tore at Rachel like a maniac, and tried desperately to extricate his tail from her grip. If he did, Rachel would be dead before she could do anything to stop him.

The Sub-Visser calmly walked to Alloran and jabbed the hypodermic into his jugular vein, and instantly, the crazed War-Prince went limp, and became perfectly still.

(Is he dead?) I asked cautiously.

"I am not a coward," the Sub-Visser snapped. "I injected him with enough tridithalifane to keep him unconscious for a week."

Rachel inelegantly dropped Alloran to the deck.

"Are you going to explain yourself now?" Prince Jake demanded, glaring at the Sub-Visser.

She smiled. "Yes. I made you believe that you had been abducted against your will in order to see whom you were more loyal to; me, or the Andalite. I'm glad you made the correct choice."

"If we're going to work together, we need to trust each other," Cassie said in agreement.

"Quite," the Sub-Visser said with a nod. "Now, perhaps we should enlist the help of your friend?"

Erek stepped forward from the back of the bridge, shining majestically in the dimmed light; his ivory reflecting like a hundred small mirrors.

"What do you need?" Erek asked.

"Your design schematics would be nice," the Sub-Visser said jokingly. "Pemalite technology could have awesome potential, in the right hands."

"Not _your _hands," Rachel said with a hiss.

"What about mutual trust?" the Sub-Visser asked, with a somewhat hurt expression.

(Trust is earned, not given,) I said firmly.

"Very well," Sub-Visser Thirteen said with a huff, "if the android will not share his secrets, I have another plan. Are you able to remotely interface with computer systems?"

"Not unless I have the access codes," Erek replied. "And so long as the end result doesn't involve killing someone."

"What about the Hork-Bajir pilots of those Bug fighters?" the Sub-Visser asked. "You killed _them_."

Erek's canine features looked offended. "I didn't. I disabled them so they can't call any help. I made sure no one was hurt."

"Fair enough," Sub-Visser Thirteen said nonchalantly. "But if I were to give you defence codes for a Pool ship, could you shut it down?"

"Yes."

(What are you planning?) I asked.

"I have decided to change my plan. According to my estimates, Visser Five's fleet should not have departed for the Hork-Bajir planet yet. If we leave now, we can reach them before Visser Three does."

I looked to Prince Jake warily. (Are we to proceed, Prince Jake?"

Prince Jake took a deep breath. "Yeah, we're going in."

To Be Continued in

Animorphs:

The Caretaker


End file.
